Session description protocol (sdp) based signaling of camera calibration parameters

ABSTRACT

Various embodiments herein provide techniques for Session Description Protocol (SDP)-based signaling of camera calibration parameters for multiple video streams. The camera calibration parameters may be used to stitch together (e.g., align and/or synchronize) the multiple video streams. In embodiments, the stitched video streams may form an immersive video content (e.g., 360-degree video content). Other embodiments may be described and claimed.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

The present application claims priority to U.S. Provisional PatentApplication No. 62/915,483, which was filed Oct. 15, 2019; U.S.Provisional Patent Application No. 62/923,977, which was filed Oct. 21,2019; the disclosures of which are hereby incorporated by reference.

FIELD

Embodiments relate generally to the technical field of wirelesscommunications.

BACKGROUND

The 360-degree video cameras in the market vary significantly. They havevarious numbers of lenses, such as 2 lenses, 3 lenses, 6 lenses, or evenmore. Additionally, there is not a standard way for a device to alignthe stitching operations. The users must design the methods perplatform, or the Hardware provider must provide the stitching softwaredirectly. Users may not be satisfied by the stitching quality and cannotdo the customization, for example, analysis before the stitching action.Furthermore, it is sometimes necessary to stitch the videos in theremote server which requires data transportation through the network.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Embodiments will be readily understood by the following detaileddescription in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. To facilitatethis description, like reference numerals designate like structuralelements. Embodiments are illustrated by way of example and not by wayof limitation in the figures of the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 illustrates a 360-degree conference call environment inaccordance with various embodiments.

FIG. 2 illustrates 360-degree conference call environment using a mediaresource function (MRF) and/or a media control unit (MCU), in accordancewith various embodiments.

FIG. 3 illustrates an example receiver architecture that reconstructsthe spherical video in an Internet Protocol multimedia subsystem (IMS)Telepresence or multimedia telephony services over IMS (MTSI) userequipment (UE), in accordance with various embodiments.

FIG. 4 illustrates an example signaling flow for immersive conferencingwith in-camera stitching, in accordance with various embodiments.

FIG. 5 illustrates an example signaling flow for immersive conferencingwith network-based stitching, in accordance with various embodiments.

FIG. 6 illustrates example camera calibration parameters in accordancewith various embodiments.

FIG. 7 illustrates example intrinsic parameters for a camera, inaccordance with various embodiments.

FIG. 8 illustrates example extrinsic parameters for a camera, inaccordance with various embodiments.

FIG. 9 illustrates an example architecture of a system of a network, inaccordance with various embodiments.

FIG. 10 illustrates an example of infrastructure equipment in accordancewith various embodiments.

FIG. 11 illustrates an example of a computer platform in accordance withvarious embodiments.

FIG. 12 illustrates example components of baseband circuitry and radiofront end modules in accordance with various embodiments.

FIG. 13 is a block diagram illustrating components, according to someexample embodiments, able to read instructions from a machine-readableor computer-readable medium (e.g., a non-transitory machine-readablestorage medium) and perform any one or more of the methodologiesdiscussed herein.

FIG. 14 is a flowchart of a process in accordance with variousembodiments.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The following detailed description refers to the accompanying drawings.The same reference numbers may be used in different drawings to identifythe same or similar elements. In the following description, for purposesof explanation and not limitation, specific details are set forth suchas particular structures, architectures, interfaces, techniques, etc. inorder to provide a thorough understanding of the various aspects ofvarious embodiments. However, it will be apparent to those skilled inthe art having the benefit of the present disclosure that the variousaspects of the various embodiments may be practiced in other examplesthat depart from these specific details. In certain instances,descriptions of well-known devices, circuits, and methods are omitted soas not to obscure the description of the various embodiments withunnecessary detail. For the purposes of the present document, the phrase“A or B” means (A), (B), or (A and B).

Various embodiments herein provide techniques for Session DescriptionProtocol (SDP)-based signaling of camera calibration parameters formultiple video streams. The camera calibration parameters may be used tostitch together (e.g., align and/or synchronize) the multiple videostreams. In embodiments, the stitched video streams may form animmersive video content (e.g., 360-degree video content).

Accordingly, embodiments provide new SDP-based signaling of cameracalibration parameters, which may be used for aligning and synchronizingcaptured video streams for 360 video stitching. The embodiments mayenable network-based stitching and empowered the remote server to doanalysis on raw separate videos before stitching.

Use Cases

A group of colleagues are having a meeting in conference room A (seeFIG. 1). The room consists of a conference table (for physically presentparticipants), a 360-degree camera, and a view screen. Two of theircolleagues, Bonnie (B) and Clyde (C) are travelling and join the meetingthrough a conference call.

-   -   Participants in conference room A use the screen to display a        shared presentation and/or video streams coming from Bonnie and        Clyde.    -   Bonnie joins the conference from her home using a Head Mounted        Display (HMD) and a camera that captures her video. She has a        360-degree view of the conference room.    -   Clyde joins the conference from the airport using his mobile        phone. He also has a 360-degree view of the conference room on        his mobile screen and uses his mobile camera for capturing his        own video.

Both Bonnie and Clyde can see the screen in the conference room as partof the 360-degree video. They also have the option to bring into focus{} any of the incoming video streams (presentation or the other remoteparticipant's camera feed) using their own display devices. The mannerin which this focused stream is displayed is a function of their displaydevice and is not covered in this use case.

It is noted that the system may support full 360-degree video in someembodiments. However, use cases or implementations may restrict thefield of view (e.g., to enhance user experience). Accordingly, thereference to 360-degree video is not intended to be limiting, andembodiments may be applied to any suitable type/format of immersivemedia (e.g., with narrower field of view, such as 180 degrees to 360degrees).

Within the 3GPP MTSI TS 26.114 and Telepresence TS 26.223specifications, the above use case can be realized in two possibleconfigurations, which are explained below. The participants are referredto as A, B and C from here onwards.

In the first scenario, shown in FIG. 1, the call is set up without thesupport of any media-aware network elements. Both remote participants, Band C, send information about their viewport orientation to A, which inturn sends them a viewport-dependent video stream from theomnidirectional camera.

In the second scenario, the call is setup using a network function,which may be performed by either a Media Resource Function (MRF) or aMedia Control Unit (MCU). In this case, the MRF/MCU receives aviewport-independent stream from A. Both B and C, send viewportorientation information to the MRF/MCU and receive viewport-dependentstreams from it. FIG. 2 illustrates the scenario. The A/V channel forconversational non-immersive content also flows through the MRF/MCU inFIG. 2. However, it should be possible to maintain this channel directlybetween the conference call participants.

The use case aims to enable immersive experience for remote terminalsjoining teleconferencing and telepresence sessions, with two-way audioand one-way immersive video, e.g., a remote single user wearing an HMDparticipates to a conference will send audio and optionally 2D video(e.g., of a presentation, screen sharing and/or a capture of the useritself), but receives stereo or immersive voice/audio and immersivevideo captured by an omnidirectional camera in a conference roomconnected to a fixed network. Furthermore,

-   1) Multiple single-user participants are allowed. Communications    between the single users can be conventional MTSI/Telepresence    communications. Multi-stream MTSI (MSMTSI) could be used, and if    that is used, then media data can be transmitted in separate media    streams, and the layout of different participants is up to the    client application/implementation.-   2) One 360 camera per location in multi-party conference scenarios    involving multiple physical locations are allowed.-   3) Both in-camera stitching and network-based stitching are allowed.    In case of camera stitching, stitched immersive video is sent from    the conference room to the conferencing server (e.g., MSMTSI MRF or    any other media gateway) and then from the conferencing server to    the remote participants. If this is a one-to-one conversational    session between the conferencing room and the remote participant, a    media gateway in the middle may not be necessary. In case of    network-based stitching, different 2D captures are sent from the    conference room to the conferencing server and the conferencing    server performs decoding, stitching, and re-encoding to produce the    immersive video, which is then distributed to the remote    participants.

Recommendations

-   -   It is recommended that MTSI and IMS Telepresence endpoints        support codec, protocol and transport capabilities relevant for        encoding, delivery and consumption of immersive speech/audio and        immersive video.    -   Capability for the party that sends 360-degree video to send        viewport-dependent and/or viewport-independent streams.    -   Timely delivery of the changes in viewport orientation from the        remote participants, and appropriate low-delay actions to update        the viewport-dependent streams. Any changes in viewport        orientation should not lead to latency-prone signaling, such as        Session Initiated Protocol (SIP) renegotiations.    -   Capability to create viewport-dependent streams for individual        UEs including a larger area of the original viewport for safe        playback in the UE.    -   A suitable coordinate system to be used as the standard way of        communicating the orientation of the viewport.    -   Given possible end device limitations as well as potential        constraints on the conference room equipment, network-based        processing should be considered for media workloads involving        both conference room and remote participants, e.g., stitching of        captured streams from the conference room, media composition,        transcoding and prerendering for the remote participant, etc.    -   The following parameters may be signaled in the SDP during call        setup in addition to normal MTSI call signaling.        -   1. Initial viewport orientation. It is the default            orientation from which to start the view at the receivers'            side.        -   2. Decoding/Rendering metadata, e.g., region-wise packing            information, projection mapping information, frame packing            information, etc. It is subject of discussion whether this            information is signaled via SDP and/or within SEI messages            with the media stream.        -   3. Capture Field-of-View (CFoV): as discussed during the            definition of the use case, the system supports transmission            of 360-degree video. However, the range of the field of view            (FoV) may be restricted in order to enhance user experience.            The negotiation requires signaling the capture FoV of the            capture device, and a response carrying the receiver's            preferred FoV (PFoV) depending on the remote UE, where the            preferred FoV will be less than or equal to the captured            FoV.        -   4. Codec negotiation

Architecture

The current MTSI service architecture depicted in FIG. 4.1 of 3GPP TS26.114 is applicable for immersive teleconferencing. No furtherarchitectural gaps are identified.

In terms of the reuse of existing MTSI functionality, the following maybe observed:

-   -   1—For in-camera stitching, stitched immersive video is sent from        the conferencing room to the conferencing server (e.g., MSMTSI        MRF) or directly to the remote participant (e.g., one-to-one        conversation) in one or more RTP streams (e.g., established via        SDP). Multiple real time protocol (RTP) streams may be used in        case tile or sub-picture based delivery optimization is in use.    -   2—For network-based stitching, multiple RTP streams are        established (e.g., via SDP, using MSMTSI) between the        conferencing server and conference room, each of which carries a        particular 2D capture. These RTP streams are then sent from the        conference room to the conferencing server and the conferencing        server performs decoding, stitching, and re-encoding to produce        one or more RTP streams containing the immersive video, which        are then distributed to the remote participants (e.g., again via        MSMTSI). Multiple RTP streams may be used for the immersive        video in case tile or sub-picture based delivery optimization is        in use.

Potential Solutions

FIG. 3 provides an overview of a possible receiver architecture thatreconstructs the spherical video in an MTSI or IMS Telepresence UE. Notethat this figure does not represent an actual implementation, but alogical set of receiver functions. Based on one or more received RTPmedia streams, the UE parses, possibly decrypts and feeds the elementarystream to the high efficiency video coding (HEVC) decoder. The HEVCdecoder obtains the decoder output signal, referred to as the “texture”,as well as the decoder metadata. The Decoder Metadata contains theSupplemental Enhancement Information (SEI) messages, e.g., informationcarried in the omnidirectional video specific SEI messages, to be usedin the rendering phase. In particular, the Decoder Metadata may be usedby the Texture-to-Sphere Mapping function to generate a spherical video(or part thereof) based on the decoded output signal, e.g., the texture.The viewport is then generated from the spherical video signal (or partthereof) by taking into account the viewport position information fromsensors, display characteristics as well as possibly other metadata suchas initial viewport information.

For 360 degree video, the potential solutions can consider the followingprinciples:

-   -   The RTP stream would contain an HEVC bitstream with        omnidirectional video specific SEI messages. In particular, the        omnidirectional video specific SEI messages as defined in        ISO/IEC 23008-2 may be present.    -   The video elementary stream(s) may be encoded following the        requirements in the Omnidirectional Media Format (OMAF)        specification ISO/IEC 23090-2, clause 10.1.2.2.

Relevant SEI messages contained in the elementary stream(s) with decoderrendering metadata may include the following information as per ISO/IEC23008-2:

-   -   Region-wise packing information, e.g., carrying region-wise        packing format indication and also any coverage restrictions    -   Projection mapping information, indicating the projection format        in use, e.g., EquiRectangular Pprojection (ERP) or Cubemap        projection (CMP)    -   Padding, indicating whether there is padding or guard band in        the packed picture    -   Frame packing arrangement, indicating the frame packing format        for stereoscopic content    -   Content pre-rotation information, indicating the amount of        sphere rotation, if any, applied to the sphere signal before        projection and region-wise packing at the encoder side

The output signal, e.g., the decoded picture or “texture”, is thenrendered using the Decoder Metadata information contained in relevantSEI messages contained in the video elementary streams. The DecoderMetadata is used when performing rendering operations such asregion-wise unpacking, projection de-mapping and rotation towardcreating spherical content for each eye.

Viewport-dependent processing could be supported for both point-to-pointconversational sessions and multiparty conferencing scenarios and beachieved by sending from the MTSI receiver real-time transport protocol(RTP) control protocol (RTCP) feedback or RTP header extension messageswith the desired viewport information and then encoding and sending thecorresponding viewport by the MTSI sender or by the media gateway, e.g.,MRF. This is expected to deliver resolutions higher than the viewportindependent approach for the desired viewport. The transmitted RTPstream from the MTSI sender or media gateway may also include the actualviewport or coverage information, e.g., in an RTP header extensionmessage, as the 360 degree video generated, encoded and streamed by thesender may cover a larger area than the desired viewport. The mediaformats for tiling and sub-picture coding as described in theviewport-dependent profile of OMAF in ISO/IEC 23090-2, etc. are notrelevant for the 5G conversational setting. Instead, viewport-dependentprocessing based on tiling and sub-picture coding could be realized viaRTP/RTCP based protocols that are supported by MTSI and IMS-basedtelepresence.

OMAF video profiles specified in ISO/IEC 23090-2 are based on HEVC Main10 Profile, Main Tier, Level 5.1 in order to deliver high qualityvirtual reality (VR) experiences. In the meantime, MTSI in 3GPP TS26.114 mandates H.265 (HEVC) Main Profile, Main Tier, Level 3.1 forvideo, and IMS telepresence in 3GPP TS 26.223 mandates H.265 (HEVC) MainProfile, Main Tier, Level 4.1 for video.

For achieving video quality required by VR services, it may berecommended that the video codecs for VR support in MTSI and IMStelepresence are aligned with OMAF and/or 3GPP TS 26.118, e.g., HEVCMain 10 Profile, Main Tier, Level 5.1 may be recommended for MTSI andIMS telepresence in TS 26.114 and TS 26.223 to ensure a high-quality VRexperience. It is expected that both MTSI client and MTSI gateway codecrequirements are aligned with these recommended video codec requirementsfor VR support. It is not expected that the mechanisms for session setupand negotiation would be different because of this changed requirementon video codecs.

With regards to the negotiation of SEI messages for carriage of decoderrendering metadata, procedures specified in IETF RFC 7798 on the RTPpayload format for HEVC may be reused. In particular, RFC 7798 can allowexposing SEI messages related to decoder rendering metadata foromnidirectional media in the SDP using the ‘sprop-sei’ parameter, whichallows to convey one or more SEI messages that describe bitstreamcharacteristics. When present, a decoder can rely on the bitstreamcharacteristics that are described in the SEI messages for the entireduration of the session. Intentionally, RFC 7798 does not list anapplicable or inapplicable SEI messages to be listed as part of thisparameter, so the newly defined SEI messages for omnidirectional mediain ISO/IEC 23008-2 can be signaled. It is expected that both MTSIclients and MTSI gateways support RTP payload formats for VR support.

For most one-to-one video telephony and multi-party video conferencingscenarios, it is expected that support of the following omnidirectionalvideo specific SEI messages would be sufficient:

1) the equirectangular projection SEI message,

2) the cubemap projection SEI message,

3) the sphere rotation SEI message, and

4) the region-wise packing SEI message.

For stereoscopic video support, in either one-to-one video telephonyscenarios or multi-party video conferencing scenarios, support of asubset of the frame packing arrangement SEI message as in ISO/IEC23090-2 is also needed.

Based on the above, an SDP framework for immersive video exchange needsto be developed to negotiate codec support, SEI messages for decoderrendering metadata, as well as RTP/RTCP signaling necessary for viewportdependent processing. These capabilities may be individually negotiated,but to simplify the SDP exchange and avoid fragmentation of capabilitiesit would be more preferable to specify one or more MTSI client profilesand develop the SDP framework based on these profiles.

Such an example compact SDP negotiation framework is described below. Anew SDP attribute 3gpp_360video may be defined with the following ABNF:

3gpp_360video=“a=3gpp_video:” [SP “VDP” SP “Stereo”]

A potential specification for the semantics of the above attribute andparameter is provided below. Unsupported parameters of the 3gpp_360videoattribute may be ignored.

An MTSI terminal supporting the 360 video feature without usingviewport-dependent processing (VDP) or stereoscopic video for video maysupport the following procedures:

-   -   when sending an SDP offer, the MTSI client includes the        3gpp_360video attribute in the media description for video in        the SDP offer    -   when sending an SDP answer, the MTSI client includes the        3gpp_360video attribute in the media description for video in        the SDP answer if the 3gpp_360video attribute was received in an        SDP offer    -   after successful negotiation of the 3gpp_360video attribute in        the SDP, for the video streams based on the HEVC codec, the MTSI        clients exchange an RTP-based video stream containing an HEVC        bitstream with omnidirectional video specific SEI messages as        defined in ISO/IEC 23008-2 with the following characteristics:        -   OMAF video profiles specified in ISO/IEC 23090-2 are based            on HEVC Main 10 Profile, Main Tier, Level 5.1 are supported.        -   exchange of the following SEI messages are supported: (i)            the equirectangular projection SEI message, (ii) the cubemap            projection SEI message, (iii) the sphere rotation SEI            message, and (iv) the region-wise packing SEI message.

Note: This attribute may be used to negotiate 360 video capabilities forvideo streams in a codec-agnostic fashion. The semantics of3gpp_360video attribute for video streams based on AVC (which is theother mandatory codec for MTSI) is TBD.

An MTSI terminal supporting the 360 video feature supporting use ofviewport-dependent processing (VDP) would include the VDP parameter andfurther support the following procedures:

-   -   the RTCP feedback (FB) message described in clause 9.2 type to        carry desired or requested viewport information during the RTP        streaming of media (signaled from the MTSI receiver to the MTSI        sender). When the predefined viewport mode of viewport-dependent        processing is negotiated, additional SDP attributes may be        signaled in addition to VDP, e.g., as per a=predefined viewport        attribute.    -   [the new RTP header extension type to carry actually transmitted        viewport information during the RTP streaming of media (signaled        from the MTSI sender to the MTSI receiver).]

An MTSI terminal supporting the 360 video feature with stereoscopicvideo would include the Stereo parameter and additionally support framepacking arrangement SEI message as in ISO/IEC 23090-2 for HEVC.

Example Signaling Flows and Media Processing Procedures

Immersive Teleconferencing with in-Camera Stitching

For in-camera stitching, stitched immersive video is sent from theconferencing room to the conferencing server (e.g., MSMTSI MRF) ordirectly to the remote participant (e.g., one-to-one conversation) inone or more RTP streams (e.g., established via SDP). Multiple RTPstreams may be used in case tile or sub-picture based deliveryoptimization is in use. We consider a point to point communicationsscenario in this example so there is no conferencing server in between.An example signaling flow is depicted in FIG. 4 and described furtherbelow.

1—The Remote Participant UE sends an SDP offer to the Conference RoomTerminal indicating immersive media capabilities including 360 videosupport. Optionally, the Remote Participant UE may also includeviewport-dependent processing capability in the SDP offer. Two or moreRTP streams may be included in the SDP offer in case viewport-dependentprocessing is offered, e.g. one RTP stream for the base 360 video andanother viewport-optimized RTP stream, with the high quality 360 videocorresponding to the desired viewport.

2—The Conference Room Terminal responds to the Remote Participant UEwith an SDP answer confirming immersive media capabilities including 360video support. Optionally, the Conference Room Terminal may also acceptviewport-dependent processing capability in the SDP answer. In caseviewport-dependent processing is accepted, the SDP answer from theConference Room Terminal may include multiple RTP streams.

3—The Conference Room Terminal streams the RTP media flow with immersivemedia including 360 video to the Remote Participant UE. 360 videotransmission could be based on the RTP payload formats for HEVC thatcarry SEI messages describing immersive media metadata as describedherein.

4—(Optional) The Remote Participant UE signals the desired ViewportInformation to the Conference Room Terminal using a dedicated RTCPfeedback message.

5—(Optional) The Conference Room Terminal streams the viewport-optimizedRTP media flow with immersive media including 360 video to the RemoteParticipant UE. Information on the actually transmitted viewport mayalso be included in the RTP media flow. In case two RTP streams arenegotiated, then the viewport-optimized RTP stream containing the highquality 360 video may contain this information.

8.2 Immersive Teleconferencing with Network-Based Stitching

For network-based stitching, multiple RTP streams are established (e.g.,via SDP, using MSMTSI) between the conferencing server and conferenceroom, each of which carries a particular 2D capture. These RTP streamsare then sent from the conference room to the conferencing server andthe conferencing server performs decoding, stitching, and re-encoding toproduce one or more RTP streams containing the immersive video, whichare then distributed to the remote participants (e.g., again viaMSMTSI). Multiple RTP streams may be used for the immersive video incase tile or sub-picture based delivery optimization is in use. Anexample signaling flow is depicted in FIG. 5 and described furtherbelow.

1—The Remote Participant UE sends an SDP offer to the ConferencingServer (e.g., MSMTSI MRF) indicating immersive media capabilitiesincluding 360 video support. Optionally, the Remote Participant UE mayalso include viewport-dependent processing capability in the SDP offer.Two or more RTP streams may be included in the SDP offer in caseviewport-dependent processing is offered, e.g. one RTP stream for thebase 360 video and another viewport-optimized RTP stream, with the highquality 360 video corresponding to the desired viewport.

2—The Conferencing Server forwards the SDP offer to the Conference RoomTerminal to see it is capable of supporting immersive media. The SDPoffer also indicates 2D video capabilities as a fallback in case theConference Room Terminal is not capable of immersive media support.Multiple RTP streams may be included in the SDP offer.

3—The offered media is rejected by the Conference Room Terminalindicating that it has no support for immersive media. Instead, theConference Room Terminal sends an SDP answer to the Conferencing Serverindicating its 2D video capabilities. Multiple RTP streams may beincluded in the SDP answer depending on the capture capabilities of theconference room.

4—The Conferencing Server responds to the Remote Participant UE with anSDP answer confirming immersive media capabilities including 360 videosupport. Optionally, the Conference Room Terminal may also acceptviewport-dependent processing capability in the SDP answer. In caseviewport-dependent processing is accepted, the SDP answer from theConference Room Terminal may include multiple RTP streams.

5—The Conference Room Terminal streams multiple RTP media flows carrying2D video to the Conferencing Server.

6—The Conferencing Server stitches the received 2D videos to generateimmersive media including 360 video and streams it to the RemoteParticipant UE. 360 video transmission could be based on the RTP payloadformats for HEVC that carry SEI messages describing immersive mediametadata as described herein.

7—(Optional) The Remote Participant UE signals the desired ViewportInformation to the Conferencing Server using a dedicated RTCP feedbackmessage.

8—(Optional) The Conferencing Server streams the viewport-optimized RTPmedia flow with immersive media including 360 video to the RemoteParticipant UE. Information on the actually transmitted viewport mayalso be included in the RTP media flow. In case two RTP streams arenegotiated, then the viewport-optimized RTP stream containing the highquality 360 video may contain this information.

Additional Embodiments of the Disclosure

Network-based 360 video stitching is included in the ImmersiveTeleconferencing and Telepresence for Remote Terminals (ITT4RT)permanent document as a possible method to produce 360 video content tobe delivered as part of immersive teleconferencing and telepresencesessions. Accordingly, different 2D captures are sent from theconference room to the conferencing server and the conferencing serverperforms decoding, stitching, and re-encoding to produce the immersive360 degree video, which is then distributed to the remote participants.In this setting, different 2D captures are performed by differentcameras (e.g., lenses) that may have been calibrated differently.Therefore, to help with the 360 video production at the conferencingserver, there is a benefit in signaling the camera calibrationparameters such that the 2D videos can properly be aligned prior to the360 video production. Embodiments herein provide potential solutions onthe signaling of camera calibration parameters to facilitatenetwork-based stitching in the ITT4RT framework.

Camera calibration is necessary for stitching, either network-based oron premise, on any 360 degree multi-lens cameras. When havingnetwork-based stitching solution, the stitching service on the cloud (oredge) need to get calibration parameters at beginning of the servicesession. This is necessary so that the multiple videos captured by anarray of cameras can be aligned and stitched together into a perfectlyuniform sphere, removing lens distortion and matching color and tone.The basic parameters include lens numbers, layouts, positions, angles,radius and resolutions.

Some example camera calibration parameters are illustrates in FIGS. 6-8.

Derived Requirements

-   -   To facilitate network-based stitching, it is possible to signal        camera calibration parameters for each 2D video capture (e.g.,        each camera lens) transported from the conference room to the        conferencing server at the beginning of each session. Relevant        parameters include lens numbers, layouts, positions, angles,        radius and resolutions.

Potential Solution Via SDP Signaling

Clause 4.5 of the framework for live uplink streaming (FLUS)specification in 3GPP TS 26.238 describes the FLUS source system.Accordingly the MTSI instantiation of FLUS supports SDP-baseddescription of the relationships among multiple streams in a FLUS sourcesystem identified using the SDP attribute a=3gpp-flus-system:<urn> andFLUS media stream to session mapping achieved using the SDP attributea=group:FLUS. Further details can be found in Table 4.5-1 of 3GPP TS26.238, copied below for reference:

TABLE 4.5-1 General source system description IMS-based Non-IMS-basedInstantiation Instantiation Source System Description SDP ParametersParameters Source System A URI that a = 3gpp-flus- JSON ObjectIdentifier uniquely system: <urn> (SourceSystemIdentifier) identifiesthe source system FLUS media Grouping a = group: FLUS Not applicablestream description <mid_1> to session needed to <mid 2> . . . mappingidentify the FLUS media streams when a FLUS session is part of an MTSIsession Configuration Provides source a = 3gpp-flus- system-specificconfiguration: Not applicable configuration <base 64 encoded> parametersfor the source system. Media Stream Descriptions of m = Defined by theF-U the media (one per stream) instantiation streams that are defined bythe source system Identifier A unique a = mid: <media_id> Defined by theF-U identifier shall instantiation (may be be associated implicit) withevery media stream. If not present, then the source system descriptionshould contain sufficient information to uniquely identify the mediastream in the system. Stream Describes the a = 3gpp-flus-media- Definedby the F-U Configuration details of the configuration: instantiationmedia stream, <base 64 encoded> including the encoding, the metadata,etc. The media stream is self- describing in the system. The definitionof a single media stream, in the context of session descriptioninformation, is provided during session establishment, e.g. by a medialine in SDP. Bandwidth Indication of b = AS: <bw> Defined by the F-URequirement the required a = bw-info: instantiation network bandwidth totransport the media streams of the source system. Mandatory if QoS isrequired Transmission Optional a = sendonly Defined by the F-U Directionindication of (mandatory) instantiation the transmission direction ofthe media streams Codec Codec a = rtpmap: Defined by F-U Identifier(mandatory) instantiation. Codec Codec-specific a = fmtp: Defined by F-Uconfiguration configuration instantiation information for the set ofmedia streams in the source system Media Media type of m = <type>Defined by F-U Type each media (mandatory) instantiation stream: audio,video, text, etc . . Media Identification m = <type> <port> Defined byF-U Transport of the media RTP/AVP instantiation. and transport(mandatory) Control protocol, RTP/AVPF operating over (if video rate IP,for this adaptation is desired) media stream in the source system

One potential solution can be to adopt the FLUS signaling framework toprovide the relationships among the 2D video captures to be used fornetwork-based stitching in ITT4RT and amend the SDP-based signaling inTable 4.5-1 to also include the camera calibration parameters. Theexisting SDP syntax in Table 4.5-1 may be reused (e.g.,a=3gpp-flus-configuration: which provides source system-specificconfiguration parameters for the source system) or a dedicated new SDPattribute (e.g., a=a=3gpp-flus-camera-configuration) may be defined toexplicitly signal the camera calibration parameters for each mediastream.

The set of camera calibration parameters to be signaled can include lensnumbers, layouts, positions, angles, radius and resolutions. Morespecifically the following parameters may be signaled via SDP:

-   -   Number of cameras    -   Layout of the cameras    -   General intrinsic parameters: resolution, Focal length,        Principal point (center of projection), Lens distortion        (deviation from ideal perspective or fisheye) of each camera    -   Other intrinsic parameters for each camera represented in the        above figure by image_height, image-width, center_x, center_y,        radius and field of view    -   Extrinsic camera parameters for each camera represented in the        above figure by translation (x, y, z coordinates) and        orientation (yaw, pitch, roll) values of each camera to        accommodate various rig geometries.    -   Other extrinsic camera parameters for each camera represented by        x, y, z coordinates and center_azimuth, center_elevation,        center_tilt, azimuth_range, elevation_range defined as below

center_azimuth Int: Range is 1 Specifies the azimuth of the centre pointof the [−180* 2^(−16,) camera position in units of 2⁻¹⁶ degrees relativeto 180* 2⁻¹⁶] the global coordinate axes. When not present,center_azimuth is inferred to be equal to 0. center_elevation Int: Rangeis 1 Specifies the elevation of the centre point of the [−90* 2^(−16,)camera position in units of 2⁻¹⁶ degrees relative to 90* 2⁻¹⁶] theglobal coordinate axes. When not present, center_elevation is inferredto be equal to 0. center_tilt Int: Range is 1 Specifies the tilt angleof the viewport position, in [−180* 2^(−16,) units of 2⁻¹⁶ degrees,relative to the global 180* 2⁻¹⁶] coordinate axes. When not present,center_tilt is inferred to be equal to 0. azimuth_range Int 0, Specifiesthe azimuth range of the sphere region 1 through the centre point of thesphere region in units of 2⁻¹⁶ degrees. When not present, azimuth_rangeis inferred to be equal to 360 * 2¹⁶. Only relevant for 3 D viewportselevation_range Int 0, Specifies the elevation range of the sphereregion 1 through the centre point of the sphere region in units of 2⁻¹⁶degrees. When not present, elevation_range is inferred to be equal to180 * 2¹⁶. Only relevant for 3 D viewports

Systems and Implementations

FIG. 9 illustrates an example architecture of a system 900 of a network,in accordance with various embodiments. The following description isprovided for an example system 900 that operates in conjunction with theLTE system standards and 5G or NR system standards as provided by 3GPPtechnical specifications. However, the example embodiments are notlimited in this regard and the described embodiments may apply to othernetworks that benefit from the principles described herein, such asfuture 3GPP systems (e.g., Sixth Generation (6G)) systems, IEEE 802.16protocols (e.g., WMAN, WiMAX, etc.), or the like.

As shown by FIG. 9, the system 900 includes UE 901 a and UE 901 b(collectively referred to as “UEs 901” or “UE 901”). In this example,UEs 901 are illustrated as smartphones (e.g., handheld touchscreenmobile computing devices connectable to one or more cellular networks),but may also comprise any mobile or non-mobile computing device, such asconsumer electronics devices, cellular phones, smartphones, featurephones, tablet computers, wearable computer devices, personal digitalassistants (PDAs), pagers, wireless handsets, desktop computers, laptopcomputers, in-vehicle infotainment (IVI), in-car entertainment (ICE)devices, an Instrument Cluster (IC), head-up display (HUD) devices,onboard diagnostic (OBD) devices, dashtop mobile equipment (DME), mobiledata terminals (MDTs), Electronic Engine Management System (EEMS),electronic/engine control units (ECUs), electronic/engine controlmodules (ECMs), embedded systems, microcontrollers, control modules,engine management systems (EMS), networked or “smart” appliances, MTCdevices, M2M, IoT devices, and/or the like.

In some embodiments, any of the UEs 901 may be IoT UEs, which maycomprise a network access layer designed for low-power IoT applicationsutilizing short-lived UE connections. An IoT UE can utilize technologiessuch as M2M or MTC for exchanging data with an MTC server or device viaa PLMN, ProSe or D2D communication, sensor networks, or IoT networks.The M2M or MTC exchange of data may be a machine-initiated exchange ofdata. An IoT network describes interconnecting IoT UEs, which mayinclude uniquely identifiable embedded computing devices (within theInternet infrastructure), with short-lived connections. The IoT UEs mayexecute background applications (e.g., keep-alive messages, statusupdates, etc.) to facilitate the connections of the IoT network.

The UEs 901 may be configured to connect, for example, communicativelycouple, with an or RAN 910. In embodiments, the RAN 910 may be an NG RANor a 5G RAN, an E-UTRAN, or a legacy RAN, such as a UTRAN or GERAN. Asused herein, the term “NG RAN” or the like may refer to a RAN 910 thatoperates in an NR or 5G system 900, and the term “E-UTRAN” or the likemay refer to a RAN 910 that operates in an LTE or 4G system 900. The UEs901 utilize connections (or channels) 903 and 904, respectively, each ofwhich comprises a physical communications interface or layer (discussedin further detail below).

In this example, the connections 903 and 904 are illustrated as an airinterface to enable communicative coupling, and can be consistent withcellular communications protocols, such as a GSM protocol, a CDMAnetwork protocol, a PTT protocol, a POC protocol, a UMTS protocol, a3GPP LTE protocol, a 5G protocol, a NR protocol, and/or any of the othercommunications protocols discussed herein. In embodiments, the UEs 901may directly exchange communication data via a ProSe interface 905. TheProSe interface 905 may alternatively be referred to as a SL interface905 and may comprise one or more logical channels, including but notlimited to a PSCCH, a PSSCH, a PSDCH, and a PSBCH.

The UE 901 b is shown to be configured to access an AP 906 (alsoreferred to as “WLAN node 906,” “WLAN 906,” “WLAN Termination 906,” “WT906” or the like) via connection 907. The connection 907 can comprise alocal wireless connection, such as a connection consistent with any IEEE802.11 protocol, wherein the AP 906 would comprise a wireless fidelity(Wi-Fi®) router. In this example, the AP 906 is shown to be connected tothe Internet without connecting to the core network of the wirelesssystem (described in further detail below). In various embodiments, theUE 901 b, RAN 910, and AP 906 may be configured to utilize LWA operationand/or LWIP operation. The LWA operation may involve the UE 901 b inRRC_CONNECTED being configured by a RAN node 911 a-b to utilize radioresources of LTE and WLAN. LWIP operation may involve the UE 901 b usingWLAN radio resources (e.g., connection 907) via IPsec protocol tunnelingto authenticate and encrypt packets (e.g., IP packets) sent over theconnection 907. IPsec tunneling may include encapsulating the entiretyof original IP packets and adding a new packet header, therebyprotecting the original header of the IP packets.

The RAN 910 can include one or more AN nodes or RAN nodes 911 a and 911b (collectively referred to as “RAN nodes 911” or “RAN node 911”) thatenable the connections 903 and 904. As used herein, the terms “accessnode,” “access point,” or the like may describe equipment that providesthe radio baseband functions for data and/or voice connectivity betweena network and one or more users. These access nodes can be referred toas BS, gNBs, RAN nodes, eNBs, NodeBs, RSUs, TRxPs or TRPs, and so forth,and can comprise ground stations (e.g., terrestrial access points) orsatellite stations providing coverage within a geographic area (e.g., acell). As used herein, the term “NG RAN node” or the like may refer to aRAN node 911 that operates in an NR or 5G system 900 (for example, agNB), and the term “E-UTRAN node” or the like may refer to a RAN node911 that operates in an LTE or 4G system 900 (e.g., an eNB). Accordingto various embodiments, the RAN nodes 911 may be implemented as one ormore of a dedicated physical device such as a macrocell base station,and/or a low power (LP) base station for providing femtocells, picocellsor other like cells having smaller coverage areas, smaller usercapacity, or higher bandwidth compared to macrocells.

In some embodiments, all or parts of the RAN nodes 911 may beimplemented as one or more software entities running on server computersas part of a virtual network, which may be referred to as a CRAN and/ora virtual baseband unit pool (vBBUP). In these embodiments, the CRAN orvBBUP may implement a RAN function split, such as a PDCP split whereinRRC and PDCP layers are operated by the CRAN/vBBUP and other L2 protocolentities are operated by individual RAN nodes 911; a MAC/PHY splitwherein RRC, PDCP, RLC, and MAC layers are operated by the CRAN/vBBUPand the PHY layer is operated by individual RAN nodes 911; or a “lowerPHY” split wherein RRC, PDCP, RLC, MAC layers and upper portions of thePHY layer are operated by the CRAN/vBBUP and lower portions of the PHYlayer are operated by individual RAN nodes 911. This virtualizedframework allows the freed-up processor cores of the RAN nodes 911 toperform other virtualized applications. In some implementations, anindividual RAN node 911 may represent individual gNB-DUs that areconnected to a gNB-CU via individual F1 interfaces (not shown by FIG.9). In these implementations, the gNB-DUs may include one or more remoteradio heads or RFEMs (see, e.g., FIG. 10), and the gNB-CU may beoperated by a server that is located in the RAN 910 (not shown) or by aserver pool in a similar manner as the CRAN/vBBUP. Additionally oralternatively, one or more of the RAN nodes 911 may be next generationeNBs (ng-eNBs), which are RAN nodes that provide E-UTRA user plane andcontrol plane protocol terminations toward the UEs 901, and areconnected to a 5GC (e.g., CN XR220 of Figure XR2) via an NG interface(discussed infra).

In V2X scenarios one or more of the RAN nodes 911 may be or act as RSUs.The term “Road Side Unit” or “RSU” may refer to any transportationinfrastructure entity used for V2X communications. An RSU may beimplemented in or by a suitable RAN node or a stationary (or relativelystationary) UE, where an RSU implemented in or by a UE may be referredto as a “UE-type RSU,” an RSU implemented in or by an eNB may bereferred to as an “eNB-type RSU,” an RSU implemented in or by a gNB maybe referred to as a “gNB-type RSU,” and the like. In one example, an RSUis a computing device coupled with radio frequency circuitry located ona roadside that provides connectivity support to passing vehicle UEs 901(vUEs 901). The RSU may also include internal data storage circuitry tostore intersection map geometry, traffic statistics, media, as well asapplications/software to sense and control ongoing vehicular andpedestrian traffic. The RSU may operate on the 5.9 GHz Direct ShortRange Communications (DSRC) band to provide very low latencycommunications required for high speed events, such as crash avoidance,traffic warnings, and the like. Additionally or alternatively, the RSUmay operate on the cellular V2X band to provide the aforementioned lowlatency communications, as well as other cellular communicationsservices. Additionally or alternatively, the RSU may operate as a Wi-Fihotspot (2.4 GHz band) and/or provide connectivity to one or morecellular networks to provide uplink and downlink communications. Thecomputing device(s) and some or all of the radiofrequency circuitry ofthe RSU may be packaged in a weatherproof enclosure suitable for outdoorinstallation, and may include a network interface controller to providea wired connection (e.g., Ethernet) to a traffic signal controllerand/or a backhaul network.

Any of the RAN nodes 911 can terminate the air interface protocol andcan be the first point of contact for the UEs 901. In some embodiments,any of the RAN nodes 911 can fulfill various logical functions for theRAN 910 including, but not limited to, radio network controller (RNC)functions such as radio bearer management, uplink and downlink dynamicradio resource management and data packet scheduling, and mobilitymanagement.

In embodiments, the UEs 901 can be configured to communicate using OFDMcommunication signals with each other or with any of the RAN nodes 911over a multicarrier communication channel in accordance with variouscommunication techniques, such as, but not limited to, an OFDMAcommunication technique (e.g., for downlink communications) or a SC-FDMAcommunication technique (e.g., for uplink and ProSe or sidelinkcommunications), although the scope of the embodiments is not limited inthis respect. The OFDM signals can comprise a plurality of orthogonalsubcarriers.

In some embodiments, a downlink resource grid can be used for downlinktransmissions from any of the RAN nodes 911 to the UEs 901, while uplinktransmissions can utilize similar techniques. The grid can be atime-frequency grid, called a resource grid or time-frequency resourcegrid, which is the physical resource in the downlink in each slot. Sucha time-frequency plane representation is a common practice for OFDMsystems, which makes it intuitive for radio resource allocation. Eachcolumn and each row of the resource grid corresponds to one OFDM symboland one OFDM subcarrier, respectively. The duration of the resource gridin the time domain corresponds to one slot in a radio frame. Thesmallest time-frequency unit in a resource grid is denoted as a resourceelement. Each resource grid comprises a number of resource blocks, whichdescribe the mapping of certain physical channels to resource elements.Each resource block comprises a collection of resource elements; in thefrequency domain, this may represent the smallest quantity of resourcesthat currently can be allocated. There are several different physicaldownlink channels that are conveyed using such resource blocks.

According to various embodiments, the UEs 901 and the RAN nodes 911communicate data (for example, transmit and receive) data over alicensed medium (also referred to as the “licensed spectrum” and/or the“licensed band”) and an unlicensed shared medium (also referred to asthe “unlicensed spectrum” and/or the “unlicensed band”). The licensedspectrum may include channels that operate in the frequency range ofapproximately 400 MHz to approximately 3.8 GHz, whereas the unlicensedspectrum may include the 5 GHz band.

To operate in the unlicensed spectrum, the UEs 901 and the RAN nodes 911may operate using LAA, eLAA, and/or feLAA mechanisms. In theseimplementations, the UEs 901 and the RAN nodes 911 may perform one ormore known medium-sensing operations and/or carrier-sensing operationsin order to determine whether one or more channels in the unlicensedspectrum is unavailable or otherwise occupied prior to transmitting inthe unlicensed spectrum. The medium/carrier sensing operations may beperformed according to a listen-before-talk (LBT) protocol.

LBT is a mechanism whereby equipment (for example, UEs 901 RAN nodes911, etc.) senses a medium (for example, a channel or carrier frequency)and transmits when the medium is sensed to be idle (or when a specificchannel in the medium is sensed to be unoccupied). The medium sensingoperation may include CCA, which utilizes at least ED to determine thepresence or absence of other signals on a channel in order to determineif a channel is occupied or clear. This LBT mechanism allowscellular/LAA networks to coexist with incumbent systems in theunlicensed spectrum and with other LAA networks. ED may include sensingRF energy across an intended transmission band for a period of time andcomparing the sensed RF energy to a predefined or configured threshold.

Typically, the incumbent systems in the 5 GHz band are WLANs based onIEEE 802.11 technologies. WLAN employs a contention-based channel accessmechanism, called CSMA/CA. Here, when a WLAN node (e.g., a mobilestation (MS) such as UE 901, AP 906, or the like) intends to transmit,the WLAN node may first perform CCA before transmission. Additionally, abackoff mechanism is used to avoid collisions in situations where morethan one WLAN node senses the channel as idle and transmits at the sametime. The backoff mechanism may be a counter that is drawn randomlywithin the CWS, which is increased exponentially upon the occurrence ofcollision and reset to a minimum value when the transmission succeeds.The LBT mechanism designed for LAA is somewhat similar to the CSMA/CA ofWLAN. In some implementations, the LBT procedure for DL or ULtransmission bursts including PDSCH or PUSCH transmissions,respectively, may have an LAA contention window that is variable inlength between X and Y ECCA slots, where X and Y are minimum and maximumvalues for the CWSs for LAA. In one example, the minimum CWS for an LAAtransmission may be 9 microseconds (μs); however, the size of the CWSand a MCOT (for example, a transmission burst) may be based ongovernmental regulatory requirements.

The LAA mechanisms are built upon CA technologies of LTE-Advancedsystems. In CA, each aggregated carrier is referred to as a CC. A CC mayhave a bandwidth of 1.4, 3, 5, 10, 15 or 20 MHz and a maximum of fiveCCs can be aggregated, and therefore, a maximum aggregated bandwidth is100 MHz. In FDD systems, the number of aggregated carriers can bedifferent for DL and UL, where the number of UL CCs is equal to or lowerthan the number of DL component carriers. In some cases, individual CCscan have a different bandwidth than other CCs. In TDD systems, thenumber of CCs as well as the bandwidths of each CC is usually the samefor DL and UL.

CA also comprises individual serving cells to provide individual CCs.The coverage of the serving cells may differ, for example, because CCson different frequency bands will experience different pathloss. Aprimary service cell or PCell may provide a PCC for both UL and DL, andmay handle RRC and NAS related activities. The other serving cells arereferred to as SCells, and each SCell may provide an individual SCC forboth UL and DL. The SCCs may be added and removed as required, whilechanging the PCC may require the UE 901 to undergo a handover. In LAA,eLAA, and feLAA, some or all of the SCells may operate in the unlicensedspectrum (referred to as “LAA SCells”), and the LAA SCells are assistedby a PCell operating in the licensed spectrum. When a UE is configuredwith more than one LAA SCell, the UE may receive UL grants on theconfigured LAA SCells indicating different PUSCH starting positionswithin a same subframe.

The PDSCH carries user data and higher-layer signaling to the UEs 901.The PDCCH carries information about the transport format and resourceallocations related to the PDSCH channel, among other things. It mayalso inform the UEs 901 about the transport format, resource allocation,and HARQ information related to the uplink shared channel. Typically,downlink scheduling (assigning control and shared channel resourceblocks to the UE 901 b within a cell) may be performed at any of the RANnodes 911 based on channel quality information fed back from any of theUEs 901. The downlink resource assignment information may be sent on thePDCCH used for (e.g., assigned to) each of the UEs 901.

The PDCCH uses CCEs to convey the control information. Before beingmapped to resource elements, the PDCCH complex-valued symbols may firstbe organized into quadruplets, which may then be permuted using asub-block interleaver for rate matching. Each PDCCH may be transmittedusing one or more of these CCEs, where each CCE may correspond to ninesets of four physical resource elements known as REGs. Four QuadraturePhase Shift Keying (QPSK) symbols may be mapped to each REG. The PDCCHcan be transmitted using one or more CCEs, depending on the size of theDCI and the channel condition. There can be four or more different PDCCHformats defined in LTE with different numbers of CCEs (e.g., aggregationlevel, L=1, 2, 4, or 8).

Some embodiments may use concepts for resource allocation for controlchannel information that are an extension of the above-describedconcepts. For example, some embodiments may utilize an EPDCCH that usesPDSCH resources for control information transmission. The EPDCCH may betransmitted using one or more ECCEs. Similar to above, each ECCE maycorrespond to nine sets of four physical resource elements known as anEREGs. An ECCE may have other numbers of EREGs in some situations.

The RAN nodes 911 may be configured to communicate with one another viainterface 912. In embodiments where the system 900 is an LTE system(e.g., when CN 920 is an EPC XR120 as in Figure XR1), the interface 912may be an X2 interface 912. The X2 interface may be defined between twoor more RAN nodes 911 (e.g., two or more eNBs and the like) that connectto EPC 920, and/or between two eNBs connecting to EPC 920. In someimplementations, the X2 interface may include an X2 user plane interface(X2-U) and an X2 control plane interface (X2-C). The X2-U may provideflow control mechanisms for user data packets transferred over the X2interface, and may be used to communicate information about the deliveryof user data between eNBs. For example, the X2-U may provide specificsequence number information for user data transferred from a MeNB to anSeNB; information about successful in sequence delivery of PDCP PDUs toa UE 901 from an SeNB for user data; information of PDCP PDUs that werenot delivered to a UE 901; information about a current minimum desiredbuffer size at the SeNB for transmitting to the UE user data; and thelike. The X2-C may provide intra-LTE access mobility functionality,including context transfers from source to target eNBs, user planetransport control, etc.; load management functionality; as well asinter-cell interference coordination functionality.

In embodiments where the system 900 is a 5G or NR system (e.g., when CN920 is an 5GC XR220 as in Figure XR2), the interface 912 may be an Xninterface 912. The Xn interface is defined between two or more RAN nodes911 (e.g., two or more gNBs and the like) that connect to 5GC 920,between a RAN node 911 (e.g., a gNB) connecting to 5GC 920 and an eNB,and/or between two eNBs connecting to 5GC 920. In some implementations,the Xn interface may include an Xn user plane (Xn-U) interface and an Xncontrol plane (Xn-C) interface. The Xn-U may provide non-guaranteeddelivery of user plane PDUs and support/provide data forwarding and flowcontrol functionality. The Xn-C may provide management and errorhandling functionality, functionality to manage the Xn-C interface;mobility support for UE 901 in a connected mode (e.g., CM-CONNECTED)including functionality to manage the UE mobility for connected modebetween one or more RAN nodes 911. The mobility support may includecontext transfer from an old (source) serving RAN node 911 to new(target) serving RAN node 911; and control of user plane tunnels betweenold (source) serving RAN node 911 to new (target) serving RAN node 911.A protocol stack of the Xn-U may include a transport network layer builton Internet Protocol (IP) transport layer, and a GTP—U layer on top of aUDP and/or IP layer(s) to carry user plane PDUs. The Xn-C protocol stackmay include an application layer signaling protocol (referred to as XnApplication Protocol (Xn-AP)) and a transport network layer that isbuilt on SCTP. The SCTP may be on top of an IP layer, and may providethe guaranteed delivery of application layer messages. In the transportIP layer, point-to-point transmission is used to deliver the signalingPDUs. In other implementations, the Xn-U protocol stack and/or the Xn-Cprotocol stack may be same or similar to the user plane and/or controlplane protocol stack(s) shown and described herein.

The RAN 910 is shown to be communicatively coupled to a core network—inthis embodiment, core network (CN) 920. The CN 920 may comprise aplurality of network elements 922, which are configured to offer variousdata and telecommunications services to customers/subscribers (e.g.,users of UEs 901) who are connected to the CN 920 via the RAN 910. Thecomponents of the CN 920 may be implemented in one physical node orseparate physical nodes including components to read and executeinstructions from a machine-readable or computer-readable medium (e.g.,a non-transitory machine-readable storage medium). In some embodiments,NFV may be utilized to virtualize any or all of the above-describednetwork node functions via executable instructions stored in one or morecomputer-readable storage mediums (described in further detail below). Alogical instantiation of the CN 920 may be referred to as a networkslice, and a logical instantiation of a portion of the CN 920 may bereferred to as a network sub-slice. NFV architectures andinfrastructures may be used to virtualize one or more network functions,alternatively performed by proprietary hardware, onto physical resourcescomprising a combination of industry-standard server hardware, storagehardware, or switches. In other words, NFV systems can be used toexecute virtual or reconfigurable implementations of one or more EPCcomponents/functions.

Generally, the application server 930 may be an element offeringapplications that use IP bearer resources with the core network (e.g.,UMTS PS domain, LTE PS data services, etc.). The application server 930can also be configured to support one or more communication services(e.g., VoIP sessions, PTT sessions, group communication sessions, socialnetworking services, etc.) for the UEs 901 via the EPC 920.

In embodiments, the CN 920 may be a 5GC (referred to as “5GC 920” or thelike), and the RAN 910 may be connected with the CN 920 via an NGinterface 913. In embodiments, the NG interface 913 may be split intotwo parts, an NG user plane (NG-U) interface 914, which carries trafficdata between the RAN nodes 911 and a UPF, and the S1 control plane(NG-C) interface 915, which is a signaling interface between the RANnodes 911 and AMFs. Embodiments where the CN 920 is a 5GC 920 arediscussed in more detail with regard to Figure XR2.

In embodiments, the CN 920 may be a 5G CN (referred to as “5GC 920” orthe like), while in other embodiments, the CN 920 may be an EPC). WhereCN 920 is an EPC (referred to as “EPC 920” or the like), the RAN 910 maybe connected with the CN 920 via an S1 interface 913. In embodiments,the S1 interface 913 may be split into two parts, an S1 user plane(S1-U) interface 914, which carries traffic data between the RAN nodes911 and the S-GW, and the S1-MME interface 915, which is a signalinginterface between the RAN nodes 911 and MMES.

FIG. 10 illustrates an example of infrastructure equipment 1000 inaccordance with various embodiments. The infrastructure equipment 1000(or “system 1000”) may be implemented as a base station, radio head, RANnode such as the RAN nodes 911 and/or AP 906 shown and describedpreviously, application server(s) 930, and/or any other element/devicediscussed herein. In other examples, the system 1000 could beimplemented in or by a UE.

The system 1000 includes application circuitry 1005, baseband circuitry1010, one or more radio front end modules (RFEMs) 1015, memory circuitry1020, power management integrated circuitry (PMIC) 1025, power teecircuitry 1030, network controller circuitry 1035, network interfaceconnector 1040, satellite positioning circuitry 1045, and user interface1050. In some embodiments, the device 1000 may include additionalelements such as, for example, memory/storage, display, camera, sensor,or input/output (I/O) interface. In other embodiments, the componentsdescribed below may be included in more than one device. For example,said circuitries may be separately included in more than one device forCRAN, vBBU, or other like implementations.

Application circuitry 1005 includes circuitry such as, but not limitedto one or more processors (or processor cores), cache memory, and one ormore of low drop-out voltage regulators (LDOs), interrupt controllers,serial interfaces such as SPI, I2C or universal programmable serialinterface module, real time clock (RTC), timer-counters includinginterval and watchdog timers, general purpose input/output (I/O or IO),memory card controllers such as Secure Digital (SD) MultiMediaCard (MMC)or similar, Universal Serial Bus (USB) interfaces, Mobile IndustryProcessor Interface (MIPI) interfaces and Joint Test Access Group (JTAG)test access ports. The processors (or cores) of the applicationcircuitry 1005 may be coupled with or may include memory/storageelements and may be configured to execute instructions stored in thememory/storage to enable various applications or operating systems torun on the system 1000. In some implementations, the memory/storageelements may be on-chip memory circuitry, which may include any suitablevolatile and/or non-volatile memory, such as DRAM, SRAM, EPROM, EEPROM,Flash memory, solid-state memory, and/or any other type of memory devicetechnology, such as those discussed herein.

The processor(s) of application circuitry 1005 may include, for example,one or more processor cores (CPUs), one or more application processors,one or more graphics processing units (GPUs), one or more reducedinstruction set computing (RISC) processors, one or more Acorn RISCMachine (ARM) processors, one or more complex instruction set computing(CISC) processors, one or more digital signal processors (DSP), one ormore FPGAs, one or more PLDs, one or more ASICs, one or moremicroprocessors or controllers, or any suitable combination thereof. Insome embodiments, the application circuitry 1005 may comprise, or maybe, a special-purpose processor/controller to operate according to thevarious embodiments herein. As examples, the processor(s) of applicationcircuitry 1005 may include one or more Intel Pentium®, Core®, or Xeon®processor(s); Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) Ryzen® processor(s),Accelerated Processing Units (APUs), or Epyc® processors; ARM-basedprocessor(s) licensed from ARM Holdings, Ltd. such as the ARM Cortex-Afamily of processors and the ThunderX2® provided by Cavium™, Inc.; aMIPS-based design from MIPS Technologies, Inc. such as MIPS WarriorP-class processors; and/or the like. In some embodiments, the system1000 may not utilize application circuitry 1005, and instead may includea special-purpose processor/controller to process IP data received froman EPC or 5GC, for example.

In some implementations, the application circuitry 1005 may include oneor more hardware accelerators, which may be microprocessors,programmable processing devices, or the like. The one or more hardwareaccelerators may include, for example, computer vision (CV) and/or deeplearning (DL) accelerators. As examples, the programmable processingdevices may be one or more a field-programmable devices (FPDs) such asfield-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) and the like; programmable logicdevices (PLDs) such as complex PLDs (CPLDs), high-capacity PLDs(HCPLDs), and the like; ASICs such as structured ASICs and the like;programmable SoCs (PSoCs); and the like. In such implementations, thecircuitry of application circuitry 1005 may comprise logic blocks orlogic fabric, and other interconnected resources that may be programmedto perform various functions, such as the procedures, methods,functions, etc. of the various embodiments discussed herein. In suchembodiments, the circuitry of application circuitry 1005 may includememory cells (e.g., erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM),electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), flashmemory, static memory (e.g., static random access memory (SRAM),anti-fuses, etc.)) used to store logic blocks, logic fabric, data, etc.in look-up-tables (LUTs) and the like.

The baseband circuitry 1010 may be implemented, for example, as asolder-down substrate including one or more integrated circuits, asingle packaged integrated circuit soldered to a main circuit board or amulti-chip module containing two or more integrated circuits. Thevarious hardware electronic elements of baseband circuitry 1010 arediscussed infra with regard to FIG. 12.

User interface circuitry 1050 may include one or more user interfacesdesigned to enable user interaction with the system 1000 or peripheralcomponent interfaces designed to enable peripheral component interactionwith the system 1000. User interfaces may include, but are not limitedto, one or more physical or virtual buttons (e.g., a reset button), oneor more indicators (e.g., light emitting diodes (LEDs)), a physicalkeyboard or keypad, a mouse, a touchpad, a touchscreen, speakers orother audio emitting devices, microphones, a printer, a scanner, aheadset, a display screen or display device, etc. Peripheral componentinterfaces may include, but are not limited to, a nonvolatile memoryport, a universal serial bus (USB) port, an audio jack, a power supplyinterface, etc.

The radio front end modules (RFEMs) 1015 may comprise a millimeter wave(mmWave) RFEM and one or more sub-mmWave radio frequency integratedcircuits (RFICs). In some implementations, the one or more sub-mmWaveRFICs may be physically separated from the mmWave RFEM. The RFICs mayinclude connections to one or more antennas or antenna arrays (see e.g.,antenna array 1211 of FIG. 12 infra), and the RFEM may be connected tomultiple antennas. In alternative implementations, both mmWave andsub-mmWave radio functions may be implemented in the same physical RFEM1015, which incorporates both mmWave antennas and sub-mmWave.

The memory circuitry 1020 may include one or more of volatile memoryincluding dynamic random access memory (DRAM) and/or synchronous dynamicrandom access memory (SDRAM), and nonvolatile memory (NVM) includinghigh-speed electrically erasable memory (commonly referred to as Flashmemory), phase change random access memory (PRAM), magnetoresistiverandom access memory (MRAM), etc., and may incorporate thethree-dimensional (3D) cross-point (XPOINT) memories from Intel® andMicron®. Memory circuitry 1020 may be implemented as one or more ofsolder down packaged integrated circuits, socketed memory modules andplug-in memory cards.

The PMIC 1025 may include voltage regulators, surge protectors, poweralarm detection circuitry, and one or more backup power sources such asa battery or capacitor. The power alarm detection circuitry may detectone or more of brown out (under-voltage) and surge (over-voltage)conditions. The power tee circuitry 1030 may provide for electricalpower drawn from a network cable to provide both power supply and dataconnectivity to the infrastructure equipment 1000 using a single cable.

The network controller circuitry 1035 may provide connectivity to anetwork using a standard network interface protocol such as Ethernet,Ethernet over GRE Tunnels, Ethernet over Multiprotocol Label Switching(MPLS), or some other suitable protocol. Network connectivity may beprovided to/from the infrastructure equipment 1000 via network interfaceconnector 1040 using a physical connection, which may be electrical(commonly referred to as a “copper interconnect”), optical, or wireless.The network controller circuitry 1035 may include one or more dedicatedprocessors and/or FPGAs to communicate using one or more of theaforementioned protocols. In some implementations, the networkcontroller circuitry 1035 may include multiple controllers to provideconnectivity to other networks using the same or different protocols.

The positioning circuitry 1045 includes circuitry to receive and decodesignals transmitted/broadcasted by a positioning network of a globalnavigation satellite system (GNSS). Examples of navigation satelliteconstellations (or GNSS) include United States' Global PositioningSystem (GPS), Russia's Global Navigation System (GLONASS), the EuropeanUnion's Galileo system, China's BeiDou Navigation Satellite System, aregional navigation system or GNSS augmentation system (e.g., Navigationwith Indian Constellation (NAVIC), Japan's Quasi-Zenith Satellite System(QZSS), France's Doppler Orbitography and Radio-positioning Integratedby Satellite (DORIS), etc.), or the like. The positioning circuitry 1045comprises various hardware elements (e.g., including hardware devicessuch as switches, filters, amplifiers, antenna elements, and the like tofacilitate OTA communications) to communicate with components of apositioning network, such as navigation satellite constellation nodes.In some embodiments, the positioning circuitry 1045 may include aMicro-Technology for Positioning, Navigation, and Timing (Micro-PNT) ICthat uses a master timing clock to perform position tracking/estimationwithout GNSS assistance. The positioning circuitry 1045 may also be partof, or interact with, the baseband circuitry 1010 and/or RFEMs 1015 tocommunicate with the nodes and components of the positioning network.The positioning circuitry 1045 may also provide position data and/ortime data to the application circuitry 1005, which may use the data tosynchronize operations with various infrastructure (e.g., RAN nodes 911,etc.), or the like.

The components shown by FIG. 10 may communicate with one another usinginterface circuitry, which may include any number of bus and/orinterconnect (IX) technologies such as industry standard architecture(ISA), extended ISA (EISA), peripheral component interconnect (PCI),peripheral component interconnect extended (PCIx), PCI express (PCIe),or any number of other technologies. The bus/IX may be a proprietarybus, for example, used in a SoC based system. Other bus/IX systems maybe included, such as an I2C interface, an SPI interface, point to pointinterfaces, and a power bus, among others.

FIG. 11 illustrates an example of a platform 1100 (or “device 1100”) inaccordance with various embodiments. In embodiments, the computerplatform 1100 may be suitable for use as UEs 901, application servers930, and/or any other element/device discussed herein. The platform 1100may include any combinations of the components shown in the example. Thecomponents of platform 1100 may be implemented as integrated circuits(ICs), portions thereof, discrete electronic devices, or other modules,logic, hardware, software, firmware, or a combination thereof adapted inthe computer platform 1100, or as components otherwise incorporatedwithin a chassis of a larger system. The block diagram of FIG. 11 isintended to show a high level view of components of the computerplatform 1100. However, some of the components shown may be omitted,additional components may be present, and different arrangement of thecomponents shown may occur in other implementations.

Application circuitry 1105 includes circuitry such as, but not limitedto one or more processors (or processor cores), cache memory, and one ormore of LDOs, interrupt controllers, serial interfaces such as SPI, I2Cor universal programmable serial interface module, RTC, timer-countersincluding interval and watchdog timers, general purpose I/O, memory cardcontrollers such as SD MMC or similar, USB interfaces, MIPI interfaces,and JTAG test access ports. The processors (or cores) of the applicationcircuitry 1105 may be coupled with or may include memory/storageelements and may be configured to execute instructions stored in thememory/storage to enable various applications or operating systems torun on the system 1100. In some implementations, the memory/storageelements may be on-chip memory circuitry, which may include any suitablevolatile and/or non-volatile memory, such as DRAM, SRAM, EPROM, EEPROM,Flash memory, solid-state memory, and/or any other type of memory devicetechnology, such as those discussed herein.

The processor(s) of application circuitry 1005 may include, for example,one or more processor cores, one or more application processors, one ormore GPUs, one or more RISC processors, one or more ARM processors, oneor more CISC processors, one or more DSP, one or more FPGAs, one or morePLDs, one or more ASICs, one or more microprocessors or controllers, amultithreaded processor, an ultra-low voltage processor, an embeddedprocessor, some other known processing element, or any suitablecombination thereof. In some embodiments, the application circuitry 1005may comprise, or may be, a special-purpose processor/controller tooperate according to the various embodiments herein.

As examples, the processor(s) of application circuitry 1105 may includean Intel® Architecture Core™ based processor, such as a Quark™, anAtom™, an i3, an i5, an i7, or an MCU-class processor, or another suchprocessor available from Intel® Corporation, Santa Clara, Calif. Theprocessors of the application circuitry 1105 may also be one or more ofAdvanced Micro Devices (AMD) Ryzen® processor(s) or AcceleratedProcessing Units (APUs); A5-A9 processor(s) from Apple® Inc.,Snapdragon™ processor(s) from Qualcomm® Technologies, Inc., TexasInstruments, Inc.® Open Multimedia Applications Platform (OMAP)™processor(s); a MIPS-based design from MIPS Technologies, Inc. such asMIPS Warrior M-class, Warrior I-class, and Warrior P-class processors;an ARM-based design licensed from ARM Holdings, Ltd., such as the ARMCortex-A, Cortex-R, and Cortex-M family of processors; or the like. Insome implementations, the application circuitry 1105 may be a part of asystem on a chip (SoC) in which the application circuitry 1105 and othercomponents are formed into a single integrated circuit, or a singlepackage, such as the Edison™ or Galileo™ SoC boards from Intel®Corporation.

Additionally or alternatively, application circuitry 1105 may includecircuitry such as, but not limited to, one or more a field-programmabledevices (FPDs) such as FPGAs and the like; programmable logic devices(PLDs) such as complex PLDs (CPLDs), high-capacity PLDs (HCPLDs), andthe like; ASICs such as structured ASICs and the like; programmable SoCs(PSoCs); and the like. In such embodiments, the circuitry of applicationcircuitry 1105 may comprise logic blocks or logic fabric, and otherinterconnected resources that may be programmed to perform variousfunctions, such as the procedures, methods, functions, etc. of thevarious embodiments discussed herein. In such embodiments, the circuitryof application circuitry 1105 may include memory cells (e.g., erasableprogrammable read-only memory (EPROM), electrically erasableprogrammable read-only memory (EEPROM), flash memory, static memory(e.g., static random access memory (SRAM), anti-fuses, etc.)) used tostore logic blocks, logic fabric, data, etc. in look-up tables (LUTs)and the like.

The baseband circuitry 1110 may be implemented, for example, as asolder-down substrate including one or more integrated circuits, asingle packaged integrated circuit soldered to a main circuit board or amulti-chip module containing two or more integrated circuits. Thevarious hardware electronic elements of baseband circuitry 1110 arediscussed infra with regard to FIG. 12.

The RFEMs 1115 may comprise a millimeter wave (mmWave) RFEM and one ormore sub-mmWave radio frequency integrated circuits (RFICs). In someimplementations, the one or more sub-mmWave RFICs may be physicallyseparated from the mmWave RFEM. The RFICs may include connections to oneor more antennas or antenna arrays (see e.g., antenna array 1211 of FIG.12 infra), and the RFEM may be connected to multiple antennas. Inalternative implementations, both mmWave and sub-mmWave radio functionsmay be implemented in the same physical RFEM 1115, which incorporatesboth mmWave antennas and sub-mmWave.

The memory circuitry 1120 may include any number and type of memorydevices used to provide for a given amount of system memory. Asexamples, the memory circuitry 1120 may include one or more of volatilememory including random access memory (RAM), dynamic RAM (DRAM) and/orsynchronous dynamic RAM (SDRAM), and nonvolatile memory (NVM) includinghigh-speed electrically erasable memory (commonly referred to as Flashmemory), phase change random access memory (PRAM), magnetoresistiverandom access memory (MRAM), etc. The memory circuitry 1120 may bedeveloped in accordance with a Joint Electron Devices EngineeringCouncil (JEDEC) low power double data rate (LPDDR)-based design, such asLPDDR2, LPDDR3, LPDDR4, or the like. Memory circuitry 1120 may beimplemented as one or more of solder down packaged integrated circuits,single die package (SDP), dual die package (DDP) or quad die package(Q17P), socketed memory modules, dual inline memory modules (DIMMs)including microDIMMs or MiniDIMMs, and/or soldered onto a motherboardvia a ball grid array (BGA). In low power implementations, the memorycircuitry 1120 may be on-die memory or registers associated with theapplication circuitry 1105. To provide for persistent storage ofinformation such as data, applications, operating systems and so forth,memory circuitry 1120 may include one or more mass storage devices,which may include, inter alia, a solid state disk drive (SSDD), harddisk drive (HDD), a micro HDD, resistance change memories, phase changememories, holographic memories, or chemical memories, among others. Forexample, the computer platform 1100 may incorporate thethree-dimensional (3D) cross-point (XPOINT) memories from Intel® andMicron®.

Removable memory circuitry 1123 may include devices, circuitry,enclosures/housings, ports or receptacles, etc. used to couple portabledata storage devices with the platform 1100. These portable data storagedevices may be used for mass storage purposes, and may include, forexample, flash memory cards (e.g., Secure Digital (SD) cards, microSDcards, xD picture cards, and the like), and USB flash drives, opticaldiscs, external HDDs, and the like.

The platform 1100 may also include interface circuitry (not shown) thatis used to connect external devices with the platform 1100. The externaldevices connected to the platform 1100 via the interface circuitryinclude sensor circuitry 1121 and electro-mechanical components (EMCs)1122, as well as removable memory devices coupled to removable memorycircuitry 1123.

The sensor circuitry 1121 include devices, modules, or subsystems whosepurpose is to detect events or changes in its environment and send theinformation (sensor data) about the detected events to some other adevice, module, subsystem, etc. Examples of such sensors include, interalia, inertia measurement units (IMUS) comprising accelerometers,gyroscopes, and/or magnetometers; microelectromechanical systems (MEMS)or nanoelectromechanical systems (NEMS) comprising 3-axisaccelerometers, 3-axis gyroscopes, and/or magnetometers; level sensors;flow sensors; temperature sensors (e.g., thermistors); pressure sensors;barometric pressure sensors; gravimeters; altimeters; image capturedevices (e.g., cameras or lensless apertures); light detection andranging (LiDAR) sensors; proximity sensors (e.g., infrared radiationdetector and the like), depth sensors, ambient light sensors, ultrasonictransceivers; microphones or other like audio capture devices; etc.

EMCs 1122 include devices, modules, or subsystems whose purpose is toenable platform 1100 to change its state, position, and/or orientation,or move or control a mechanism or (sub)system. Additionally, EMCs 1122may be configured to generate and send messages/signalling to othercomponents of the platform 1100 to indicate a current state of the EMCs1122. Examples of the EMCs 1122 include one or more power switches,relays including electromechanical relays (EMRs) and/or solid staterelays (SSRs), actuators (e.g., valve actuators, etc.), an audible soundgenerator, a visual warning device, motors (e.g., DC motors, steppermotors, etc.), wheels, thrusters, propellers, claws, clamps, hooks,and/or other like electro-mechanical components. In embodiments,platform 1100 is configured to operate one or more EMCs 1122 based onone or more captured events and/or instructions or control signalsreceived from a service provider and/or various clients.

In some implementations, the interface circuitry may connect theplatform 1100 with positioning circuitry 1145. The positioning circuitry1145 includes circuitry to receive and decode signalstransmitted/broadcasted by a positioning network of a GNSS. Examples ofnavigation satellite constellations (or GNSS) include United States'GPS, Russia's GLONASS, the European Union's Galileo system, China'sBeiDou Navigation Satellite System, a regional navigation system or GNSSaugmentation system (e.g., NAVIC), Japan's QZSS, France's DORIS, etc.),or the like. The positioning circuitry 1145 comprises various hardwareelements (e.g., including hardware devices such as switches, filters,amplifiers, antenna elements, and the like to facilitate OTAcommunications) to communicate with components of a positioning network,such as navigation satellite constellation nodes. In some embodiments,the positioning circuitry 1145 may include a Micro-PNT IC that uses amaster timing clock to perform position tracking/estimation without GNSSassistance. The positioning circuitry 1145 may also be part of, orinteract with, the baseband circuitry 1010 and/or RFEMs 1115 tocommunicate with the nodes and components of the positioning network.The positioning circuitry 1145 may also provide position data and/ortime data to the application circuitry 1105, which may use the data tosynchronize operations with various infrastructure (e.g., radio basestations), for turn-by-turn navigation applications, or the like

In some implementations, the interface circuitry may connect theplatform 1100 with Near-Field Communication (NFC) circuitry 1140. NFCcircuitry 1140 is configured to provide contactless, short-rangecommunications based on radio frequency identification (RFID) standards,wherein magnetic field induction is used to enable communication betweenNFC circuitry 1140 and NFC-enabled devices external to the platform 1100(e.g., an “NFC touchpoint”). NFC circuitry 1140 comprises an NFCcontroller coupled with an antenna element and a processor coupled withthe NFC controller. The NFC controller may be a chip/IC providing NFCfunctionalities to the NFC circuitry 1140 by executing NFC controllerfirmware and an NFC stack. The NFC stack may be executed by theprocessor to control the NFC controller, and the NFC controller firmwaremay be executed by the NFC controller to control the antenna element toemit short-range RF signals. The RF signals may power a passive NFC tag(e.g., a microchip embedded in a sticker or wristband) to transmitstored data to the NFC circuitry 1140, or initiate data transfer betweenthe NFC circuitry 1140 and another active NFC device (e.g., a smartphoneor an NFC-enabled POS terminal) that is proximate to the platform 1100.

The driver circuitry 1146 may include software and hardware elementsthat operate to control particular devices that are embedded in theplatform 1100, attached to the platform 1100, or otherwisecommunicatively coupled with the platform 1100. The driver circuitry1146 may include individual drivers allowing other components of theplatform 1100 to interact with or control various input/output (I/O)devices that may be present within, or connected to, the platform 1100.For example, driver circuitry 1146 may include a display driver tocontrol and allow access to a display device, a touchscreen driver tocontrol and allow access to a touchscreen interface of the platform1100, sensor drivers to obtain sensor readings of sensor circuitry 1121and control and allow access to sensor circuitry 1121, EMC drivers toobtain actuator positions of the EMCs 1122 and/or control and allowaccess to the EMCs 1122, a camera driver to control and allow access toan embedded image capture device, audio drivers to control and allowaccess to one or more audio devices.

The power management integrated circuitry (PMIC) 1125 (also referred toas “power management circuitry 1125”) may manage power provided tovarious components of the platform 1100. In particular, with respect tothe baseband circuitry 1110, the PMIC 1125 may control power-sourceselection, voltage scaling, battery charging, or DC-to-DC conversion.The PMIC 1125 may often be included when the platform 1100 is capable ofbeing powered by a battery 1130, for example, when the device isincluded in a UE 901, XR101, XR201.

In some embodiments, the PMIC 1125 may control, or otherwise be part of,various power saving mechanisms of the platform 1100. For example, ifthe platform 1100 is in an RRC_Connected state, where it is stillconnected to the RAN node as it expects to receive traffic shortly, thenit may enter a state known as Discontinuous Reception Mode (DRX) after aperiod of inactivity. During this state, the platform 1100 may powerdown for brief intervals of time and thus save power. If there is nodata traffic activity for an extended period of time, then the platform1100 may transition off to an RRC_Idle state, where it disconnects fromthe network and does not perform operations such as channel qualityfeedback, handover, etc. The platform 1100 goes into a very low powerstate and it performs paging where again it periodically wakes up tolisten to the network and then powers down again. The platform 1100 maynot receive data in this state; in order to receive data, it musttransition back to RRC_Connected state. An additional power saving modemay allow a device to be unavailable to the network for periods longerthan a paging interval (ranging from seconds to a few hours). Duringthis time, the device is totally unreachable to the network and maypower down completely. Any data sent during this time incurs a largedelay and it is assumed the delay is acceptable.

A battery 1130 may power the platform 1100, although in some examplesthe platform 1100 may be mounted deployed in a fixed location, and mayhave a power supply coupled to an electrical grid. The battery 1130 maybe a lithium ion battery, a metal-air battery, such as a zinc-airbattery, an aluminum-air battery, a lithium-air battery, and the like.In some implementations, such as in V2X applications, the battery 1130may be a typical lead-acid automotive battery.

In some implementations, the battery 1130 may be a “smart battery,”which includes or is coupled with a Battery Management System (BMS) orbattery monitoring integrated circuitry. The BMS may be included in theplatform 1100 to track the state of charge (SoCh) of the battery 1130.The BMS may be used to monitor other parameters of the battery 1130 toprovide failure predictions, such as the state of health (SoH) and thestate of function (SoF) of the battery 1130. The BMS may communicate theinformation of the battery 1130 to the application circuitry 1105 orother components of the platform 1100. The BMS may also include ananalog-to-digital (ADC) convertor that allows the application circuitry1105 to directly monitor the voltage of the battery 1130 or the currentflow from the battery 1130. The battery parameters may be used todetermine actions that the platform 1100 may perform, such astransmission frequency, network operation, sensing frequency, and thelike.

A power block, or other power supply coupled to an electrical grid maybe coupled with the BMS to charge the battery 1130. In some examples,the power block XS30 may be replaced with a wireless power receiver toobtain the power wirelessly, for example, through a loop antenna in thecomputer platform 1100. In these examples, a wireless battery chargingcircuit may be included in the BMS. The specific charging circuitschosen may depend on the size of the battery 1130, and thus, the currentrequired. The charging may be performed using the Airfuel standardpromulgated by the Airfuel Alliance, the Qi wireless charging standardpromulgated by the Wireless Power Consortium, or the Rezence chargingstandard promulgated by the Alliance for Wireless Power, among others.

User interface circuitry 1150 includes various input/output (I/O)devices present within, or connected to, the platform 1100, and includesone or more user interfaces designed to enable user interaction with theplatform 1100 and/or peripheral component interfaces designed to enableperipheral component interaction with the platform 1100. The userinterface circuitry 1150 includes input device circuitry and outputdevice circuitry. Input device circuitry includes any physical orvirtual means for accepting an input including, inter alia, one or morephysical or virtual buttons (e.g., a reset button), a physical keyboard,keypad, mouse, touchpad, touchscreen, microphones, scanner, headset,and/or the like. The output device circuitry includes any physical orvirtual means for showing information or otherwise conveyinginformation, such as sensor readings, actuator position(s), or otherlike information. Output device circuitry may include any number and/orcombinations of audio or visual display, including, inter alia, one ormore simple visual outputs/indicators (e.g., binary status indicators(e.g., light emitting diodes (LEDs)) and multi-character visual outputs,or more complex outputs such as display devices or touchscreens (e.g.,Liquid Chrystal Displays (LCD), LED displays, quantum dot displays,projectors, etc.), with the output of characters, graphics, multimediaobjects, and the like being generated or produced from the operation ofthe platform 1100. The output device circuitry may also include speakersor other audio emitting devices, printer(s), and/or the like. In someembodiments, the sensor circuitry 1121 may be used as the input devicecircuitry (e.g., an image capture device, motion capture device, or thelike) and one or more EMCs may be used as the output device circuitry(e.g., an actuator to provide haptic feedback or the like). In anotherexample, NFC circuitry comprising an NFC controller coupled with anantenna element and a processing device may be included to readelectronic tags and/or connect with another NFC-enabled device.Peripheral component interfaces may include, but are not limited to, anon-volatile memory port, a USB port, an audio jack, a power supplyinterface, etc.

Although not shown, the components of platform 1100 may communicate withone another using a suitable bus or interconnect (IX) technology, whichmay include any number of technologies, including ISA, EISA, PCI, PCIx,PCIe, a Time-Trigger Protocol (TTP) system, a FlexRay system, or anynumber of other technologies. The bus/IX may be a proprietary bus/IX,for example, used in a SoC based system. Other bus/IX systems may beincluded, such as an I²C interface, an SPI interface, point-to-pointinterfaces, and a power bus, among others.

FIG. 12 illustrates example components of baseband circuitry 1210 andradio front end modules (RFEM) 1215 in accordance with variousembodiments. The baseband circuitry 1210 corresponds to the basebandcircuitry 1010 and 1110 of FIGS. 10 and 11, respectively. The RFEM 1215corresponds to the RFEM 1015 and 1115 of FIGS. 10 and 11, respectively.As shown, the RFEMs 1215 may include Radio Frequency (RF) circuitry1206, front-end module (FEM) circuitry 1208, antenna array 1211 coupledtogether at least as shown.

The baseband circuitry 1210 includes circuitry and/or control logicconfigured to carry out various radio/network protocol and radio controlfunctions that enable communication with one or more radio networks viathe RF circuitry 1206. The radio control functions may include, but arenot limited to, signal modulation/demodulation, encoding/decoding, radiofrequency shifting, etc. In some embodiments, modulation/demodulationcircuitry of the baseband circuitry 1210 may include Fast-FourierTransform (FFT), precoding, or constellation mapping/demappingfunctionality. In some embodiments, encoding/decoding circuitry of thebaseband circuitry 1210 may include convolution, tail-bitingconvolution, turbo, Viterbi, or Low Density Parity Check (LDPC)encoder/decoder functionality. Embodiments of modulation/demodulationand encoder/decoder functionality are not limited to these examples andmay include other suitable functionality in other embodiments. Thebaseband circuitry 1210 is configured to process baseband signalsreceived from a receive signal path of the RF circuitry 1206 and togenerate baseband signals for a transmit signal path of the RF circuitry1206. The baseband circuitry 1210 is configured to interface withapplication circuitry 1005/1105 (see FIGS. 10 and 11) for generation andprocessing of the baseband signals and for controlling operations of theRF circuitry 1206. The baseband circuitry 1210 may handle various radiocontrol functions.

The aforementioned circuitry and/or control logic of the basebandcircuitry 1210 may include one or more single or multi-core processors.For example, the one or more processors may include a 3G basebandprocessor 1204A, a 4G/LTE baseband processor 1204B, a 5G/NR basebandprocessor 1204C, or some other baseband processor(s) 1204D for otherexisting generations, generations in development or to be developed inthe future (e.g., sixth generation (6G), etc.). In other embodiments,some or all of the functionality of baseband processors 1204A-D may beincluded in modules stored in the memory 1204G and executed via aCentral Processing Unit (CPU) 1204E. In other embodiments, some or allof the functionality of baseband processors 1204A-D may be provided ashardware accelerators (e.g., FPGAs, ASICs, etc.) loaded with theappropriate bit streams or logic blocks stored in respective memorycells. In various embodiments, the memory 1204G may store program codeof a real-time OS (RTOS), which when executed by the CPU 1204E (or otherbaseband processor), is to cause the CPU 1204E (or other basebandprocessor) to manage resources of the baseband circuitry 1210, scheduletasks, etc. Examples of the RTOS may include Operating System Embedded(OSE)™ provided by Enea®, Nucleus RTOS™ provided by Mentor Graphics®,Versatile Real-Time Executive (VRTX) provided by Mentor Graphics®,ThreadX™ provided by Express Logic®, FreeRTOS, REX OS provided byQualcomm®, OKL4 provided by Open Kernel (OK) Labs®, or any othersuitable RTOS, such as those discussed herein. In addition, the basebandcircuitry 1210 includes one or more audio digital signal processor(s)(DSP) 1204F. The audio DSP(s) 1204F include elements forcompression/decompression and echo cancellation and may include othersuitable processing elements in other embodiments.

In some embodiments, each of the processors 1204A-1204E includerespective memory interfaces to send/receive data to/from the memory1204G. The baseband circuitry 1210 may further include one or moreinterfaces to communicatively couple to other circuitries/devices, suchas an interface to send/receive data to/from memory external to thebaseband circuitry 1210; an application circuitry interface tosend/receive data to/from the application circuitry 1005/1105 of FIG.10-XT); an RF circuitry interface to send/receive data to/from RFcircuitry 1206 of FIG. 12; a wireless hardware connectivity interface tosend/receive data to/from one or more wireless hardware elements (e.g.,Near Field Communication (NFC) components, Bluetooth®/Bluetooth® LowEnergy components, Wi-Fi® components, and/or the like); and a powermanagement interface to send/receive power or control signals to/fromthe PMIC 1125.

In alternate embodiments (which may be combined with the above describedembodiments), baseband circuitry 1210 comprises one or more digitalbaseband systems, which are coupled with one another via an interconnectsubsystem and to a CPU subsystem, an audio subsystem, and an interfacesubsystem. The digital baseband subsystems may also be coupled to adigital baseband interface and a mixed-signal baseband subsystem viaanother interconnect subsystem. Each of the interconnect subsystems mayinclude a bus system, point-to-point connections, network-on-chip (NOC)structures, and/or some other suitable bus or interconnect technology,such as those discussed herein. The audio subsystem may include DSPcircuitry, buffer memory, program memory, speech processing acceleratorcircuitry, data converter circuitry such as analog-to-digital anddigital-to-analog converter circuitry, analog circuitry including one ormore of amplifiers and filters, and/or other like components. In anaspect of the present disclosure, baseband circuitry 1210 may includeprotocol processing circuitry with one or more instances of controlcircuitry (not shown) to provide control functions for the digitalbaseband circuitry and/or radio frequency circuitry (e.g., the radiofront end modules 1215).

Although not shown by FIG. 12, in some embodiments, the basebandcircuitry 1210 includes individual processing device(s) to operate oneor more wireless communication protocols (e.g., a “multi-protocolbaseband processor” or “protocol processing circuitry”) and individualprocessing device(s) to implement PHY layer functions. In theseembodiments, the PHY layer functions include the aforementioned radiocontrol functions. In these embodiments, the protocol processingcircuitry operates or implements various protocol layers/entities of oneor more wireless communication protocols. In a first example, theprotocol processing circuitry may operate LTE protocol entities and/or5G/NR protocol entities when the baseband circuitry 1210 and/or RFcircuitry 1206 are part of mmWave communication circuitry or some othersuitable cellular communication circuitry. In the first example, theprotocol processing circuitry would operate MAC, RLC, PDCP, SDAP, RRC,and NAS functions. In a second example, the protocol processingcircuitry may operate one or more IEEE-based protocols when the basebandcircuitry 1210 and/or RF circuitry 1206 are part of a Wi-Ficommunication system. In the second example, the protocol processingcircuitry would operate Wi-Fi MAC and logical link control (LLC)functions. The protocol processing circuitry may include one or morememory structures (e.g., 1204G) to store program code and data foroperating the protocol functions, as well as one or more processingcores to execute the program code and perform various operations usingthe data. The baseband circuitry 1210 may also support radiocommunications for more than one wireless protocol.

The various hardware elements of the baseband circuitry 1210 discussedherein may be implemented, for example, as a solder-down substrateincluding one or more integrated circuits (ICs), a single packaged ICsoldered to a main circuit board or a multi-chip module containing twoor more ICs. In one example, the components of the baseband circuitry1210 may be suitably combined in a single chip or chipset, or disposedon a same circuit board. In another example, some or all of theconstituent components of the baseband circuitry 1210 and RF circuitry1206 may be implemented together such as, for example, a system on achip (SoC) or System-in-Package (SiP). In another example, some or allof the constituent components of the baseband circuitry 1210 may beimplemented as a separate SoC that is communicatively coupled with andRF circuitry 1206 (or multiple instances of RF circuitry 1206). In yetanother example, some or all of the constituent components of thebaseband circuitry 1210 and the application circuitry 1005/1105 may beimplemented together as individual SoCs mounted to a same circuit board(e.g., a “multi-chip package”).

In some embodiments, the baseband circuitry 1210 may provide forcommunication compatible with one or more radio technologies. Forexample, in some embodiments, the baseband circuitry 1210 may supportcommunication with an E-UTRAN or other WMAN, a WLAN, a WPAN. Embodimentsin which the baseband circuitry 1210 is configured to support radiocommunications of more than one wireless protocol may be referred to asmulti-mode baseband circuitry.

RF circuitry 1206 may enable communication with wireless networks usingmodulated electromagnetic radiation through a non-solid medium. Invarious embodiments, the RF circuitry 1206 may include switches,filters, amplifiers, etc. to facilitate the communication with thewireless network. RF circuitry 1206 may include a receive signal path,which may include circuitry to down-convert RF signals received from theFEM circuitry 1208 and provide baseband signals to the basebandcircuitry 1210. RF circuitry 1206 may also include a transmit signalpath, which may include circuitry to up-convert baseband signalsprovided by the baseband circuitry 1210 and provide RF output signals tothe FEM circuitry 1208 for transmission.

In some embodiments, the receive signal path of the RF circuitry 1206may include mixer circuitry 1206 a, amplifier circuitry 1206 b andfilter circuitry 1206 c. In some embodiments, the transmit signal pathof the RF circuitry 1206 may include filter circuitry 1206 c and mixercircuitry 1206 a. RF circuitry 1206 may also include synthesizercircuitry 1206 d for synthesizing a frequency for use by the mixercircuitry 1206 a of the receive signal path and the transmit signalpath. In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry 1206 a of the receivesignal path may be configured to down-convert RF signals received fromthe FEM circuitry 1208 based on the synthesized frequency provided bysynthesizer circuitry 1206 d. The amplifier circuitry 1206 b may beconfigured to amplify the down-converted signals and the filtercircuitry 1206 c may be a low-pass filter (LPF) or band-pass filter(BPF) configured to remove unwanted signals from the down-convertedsignals to generate output baseband signals. Output baseband signals maybe provided to the baseband circuitry 1210 for further processing. Insome embodiments, the output baseband signals may be zero-frequencybaseband signals, although this is not a requirement. In someembodiments, mixer circuitry 1206 a of the receive signal path maycomprise passive mixers, although the scope of the embodiments is notlimited in this respect.

In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry 1206 a of the transmit signalpath may be configured to up-convert input baseband signals based on thesynthesized frequency provided by the synthesizer circuitry 1206 d togenerate RF output signals for the FEM circuitry 1208. The basebandsignals may be provided by the baseband circuitry 1210 and may befiltered by filter circuitry 1206 c.

In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry 1206 a of the receive signalpath and the mixer circuitry 1206 a of the transmit signal path mayinclude two or more mixers and may be arranged for quadraturedownconversion and upconversion, respectively. In some embodiments, themixer circuitry 1206 a of the receive signal path and the mixercircuitry 1206 a of the transmit signal path may include two or moremixers and may be arranged for image rejection (e.g., Hartley imagerejection). In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry 1206 a of thereceive signal path and the mixer circuitry 1206 a of the transmitsignal path may be arranged for direct downconversion and directupconversion, respectively. In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry1206 a of the receive signal path and the mixer circuitry 1206 a of thetransmit signal path may be configured for super-heterodyne operation.

In some embodiments, the output baseband signals and the input basebandsignals may be analog baseband signals, although the scope of theembodiments is not limited in this respect. In some alternateembodiments, the output baseband signals and the input baseband signalsmay be digital baseband signals. In these alternate embodiments, the RFcircuitry 1206 may include analog-to-digital converter (ADC) anddigital-to-analog converter (DAC) circuitry and the baseband circuitry1210 may include a digital baseband interface to communicate with the RFcircuitry 1206.

In some dual-mode embodiments, a separate radio IC circuitry may beprovided for processing signals for each spectrum, although the scope ofthe embodiments is not limited in this respect.

In some embodiments, the synthesizer circuitry 1206 d may be afractional-N synthesizer or a fractional N/N+1 synthesizer, although thescope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect as other typesof frequency synthesizers may be suitable. For example, synthesizercircuitry 1206 d may be a delta-sigma synthesizer, a frequencymultiplier, or a synthesizer comprising a phase-locked loop with afrequency divider.

The synthesizer circuitry 1206 d may be configured to synthesize anoutput frequency for use by the mixer circuitry 1206 a of the RFcircuitry 1206 based on a frequency input and a divider control input.In some embodiments, the synthesizer circuitry 1206 d may be afractional N/N+1 synthesizer.

In some embodiments, frequency input may be provided by a voltagecontrolled oscillator (VCO), although that is not a requirement. Dividercontrol input may be provided by either the baseband circuitry 1210 orthe application circuitry 1005/1105 depending on the desired outputfrequency. In some embodiments, a divider control input (e.g., N) may bedetermined from a look-up table based on a channel indicated by theapplication circuitry 1005/1105.

Synthesizer circuitry 1206 d of the RF circuitry 1206 may include adivider, a delay-locked loop (DLL), a multiplexer and a phaseaccumulator. In some embodiments, the divider may be a dual modulusdivider (DMD) and the phase accumulator may be a digital phaseaccumulator (DPA). In some embodiments, the DMD may be configured todivide the input signal by either N or N+1 (e.g., based on a carry out)to provide a fractional division ratio. In some example embodiments, theDLL may include a set of cascaded, tunable, delay elements, a phasedetector, a charge pump and a D-type flip-flop. In these embodiments,the delay elements may be configured to break a VCO period up into Ndequal packets of phase, where Nd is the number of delay elements in thedelay line. In this way, the DLL provides negative feedback to helpensure that the total delay through the delay line is one VCO cycle.

In some embodiments, synthesizer circuitry 1206 d may be configured togenerate a carrier frequency as the output frequency, while in otherembodiments, the output frequency may be a multiple of the carrierfrequency (e.g., twice the carrier frequency, four times the carrierfrequency) and used in conjunction with quadrature generator and dividercircuitry to generate multiple signals at the carrier frequency withmultiple different phases with respect to each other. In someembodiments, the output frequency may be a LO frequency (fLO). In someembodiments, the RF circuitry 1206 may include an IQ/polar converter.

FEM circuitry 1208 may include a receive signal path, which may includecircuitry configured to operate on RF signals received from antennaarray 1211, amplify the received signals and provide the amplifiedversions of the received signals to the RF circuitry 1206 for furtherprocessing. FEM circuitry 1208 may also include a transmit signal path,which may include circuitry configured to amplify signals fortransmission provided by the RF circuitry 1206 for transmission by oneor more of antenna elements of antenna array 1211. In variousembodiments, the amplification through the transmit or receive signalpaths may be done solely in the RF circuitry 1206, solely in the FEMcircuitry 1208, or in both the RF circuitry 1206 and the FEM circuitry1208.

In some embodiments, the FEM circuitry 1208 may include a TX/RX switchto switch between transmit mode and receive mode operation. The FEMcircuitry 1208 may include a receive signal path and a transmit signalpath. The receive signal path of the FEM circuitry 1208 may include anLNA to amplify received RF signals and provide the amplified received RFsignals as an output (e.g., to the RF circuitry 1206). The transmitsignal path of the FEM circuitry 1208 may include a power amplifier (PA)to amplify input RF signals (e.g., provided by RF circuitry 1206), andone or more filters to generate RF signals for subsequent transmissionby one or more antenna elements of the antenna array 1211.

The antenna array 1211 comprises one or more antenna elements, each ofwhich is configured convert electrical signals into radio waves totravel through the air and to convert received radio waves intoelectrical signals. For example, digital baseband signals provided bythe baseband circuitry 1210 is converted into analog RF signals (e.g.,modulated waveform) that will be amplified and transmitted via theantenna elements of the antenna array 1211 including one or more antennaelements (not shown). The antenna elements may be omnidirectional,direction, or a combination thereof. The antenna elements may be formedin a multitude of arranges as are known and/or discussed herein. Theantenna array 1211 may comprise microstrip antennas or printed antennasthat are fabricated on the surface of one or more printed circuitboards. The antenna array 1211 may be formed in as a patch of metal foil(e.g., a patch antenna) in a variety of shapes, and may be coupled withthe RF circuitry 1206 and/or FEM circuitry 1208 using metal transmissionlines or the like.

Processors of the application circuitry 1005/1105 and processors of thebaseband circuitry 1210 may be used to execute elements of one or moreinstances of a protocol stack. For example, processors of the basebandcircuitry 1210, alone or in combination, may be used execute Layer 3,Layer 2, or Layer 1 functionality, while processors of the applicationcircuitry 1005/1105 may utilize data (e.g., packet data) received fromthese layers and further execute Layer 4 functionality (e.g., TCP andUDP layers). As referred to herein, Layer 3 may comprise a RRC layer,described in further detail below. As referred to herein, Layer 2 maycomprise a MAC layer, an RLC layer, and a PDCP layer, described infurther detail below. As referred to herein, Layer 1 may comprise a PHYlayer of a UE/RAN node, described in further detail below.

FIG. 13 is a block diagram illustrating components, according to someexample embodiments, able to read instructions from a machine-readableor computer-readable medium (e.g., a non-transitory machine-readablestorage medium) and perform any one or more of the methodologiesdiscussed herein. Specifically, FIG. 13 shows a diagrammaticrepresentation of hardware resources 1300 including one or moreprocessors (or processor cores) 1310, one or more memory/storage devices1320, and one or more communication resources 1330, each of which may becommunicatively coupled via a bus 1340. For embodiments where nodevirtualization (e.g., NFV) is utilized, a hypervisor 1302 may beexecuted to provide an execution environment for one or more networkslices/sub-slices to utilize the hardware resources 1300.

The processors 1310 may include, for example, a processor 1312 and aprocessor 1314. The processor(s) 1310 may be, for example, a centralprocessing unit (CPU), a reduced instruction set computing (RISC)processor, a complex instruction set computing (CISC) processor, agraphics processing unit (GPU), a DSP such as a baseband processor, anASIC, an FPGA, a radio-frequency integrated circuit (RFIC), anotherprocessor (including those discussed herein), or any suitablecombination thereof.

The memory/storage devices 1320 may include main memory, disk storage,or any suitable combination thereof. The memory/storage devices 1320 mayinclude, but are not limited to, any type of volatile or nonvolatilememory such as dynamic random access memory (DRAM), static random accessmemory (SRAM), erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM),electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), Flashmemory, solid-state storage, etc.

The communication resources 1330 may include interconnection or networkinterface components or other suitable devices to communicate with oneor more peripheral devices 1304 or one or more databases 1306 via anetwork 1308. For example, the communication resources 1330 may includewired communication components (e.g., for coupling via USB), cellularcommunication components, NFC components, Bluetooth® (or Bluetooth® LowEnergy) components, Wi-Fi® components, and other communicationcomponents.

Instructions 1350 may comprise software, a program, an application, anapplet, an app, or other executable code for causing at least any of theprocessors 1310 to perform any one or more of the methodologiesdiscussed herein. The instructions 1350 may reside, completely orpartially, within at least one of the processors 1310 (e.g., within theprocessor's cache memory), the memory/storage devices 1320, or anysuitable combination thereof. Furthermore, any portion of theinstructions 1350 may be transferred to the hardware resources 1300 fromany combination of the peripheral devices 1304 or the databases 1306.Accordingly, the memory of processors 1310, the memory/storage devices1320, the peripheral devices 1304, and the databases 1306 are examplesof computer-readable and machine-readable media.

Example Procedures

In some embodiments, the electronic device(s), network(s), system(s),chip(s) or component(s), or portions or implementations thereof, ofFIGS. 9-13, or some other figure herein, may be configured to performone or more processes, techniques, or methods as described herein, orportions thereof. One such process 1400 is depicted in FIG. 14. Forexample, the process 1400 may include, at 1402, receiving a plurality ofvideo streams. At 1404, the process 1400 may further include receiving asession description protocol (SDP) attribute to indicate one or morecamera calibration parameters associated with the video streams. At1406, the process 1400 may further include stitching the video streamstogether based on the one or more camera calibration parameters togenerate an immersive video.

For one or more embodiments, at least one of the components set forth inone or more of the preceding figures may be configured to perform one ormore operations, techniques, processes, and/or methods as set forth inthe example section below. For example, the baseband circuitry asdescribed above in connection with one or more of the preceding figuresmay be configured to operate in accordance with one or more of theexamples set forth below. For another example, circuitry associated witha UE, base station, network element, etc. as described above inconnection with one or more of the preceding figures may be configuredto operate in accordance with one or more of the examples set forthbelow in the example section.

Examples

Example 1 may include the new SDP attribute to indicate cameracalibration parameters for a group of RTP streams carrying captured 2Dvideos, which is then to be used for stitching the 2D videos for 360video production

Example 2 may include the SDP attribute of example 1 or some otherexample herein, where the camera calibration parameters include one ormore of the following: number of cameras, angles, radius andresolutions, layouts and positions to accommodate various rig geometries(e.g., relative position represented by X,Y,Z translation and rotationfrom the rig center): a). intrinsic parameters of each camera: Field ofView, principal point (center of projection), image and angular pixelresolution, lens distortion (deviation from ideal perspective orfisheye), and image_height, image_width, center_x, center_y, radiusdescribed in above intrinsic figure; b). extrinsic parameters of eachcamera: rotation angle (e.g., yaw, pitch, roll) and translation(X, Y, Zcoordinates) presented in the extrinsic parameters figure, andcenter_azimuth, center_elevation, center_tilt, azimuth_range andelevation_range presented below the extrinsic parameters figure.

Example 3 may include the SDP attribute of example 2 or some otherexample herein, where the SDP attribute is declared for each mediastream and expresses the camera calibration parameters on a per-streambasis.

Example 4 may include a method comprising: receiving a plurality ofvideo streams; receiving a session description protocol (SDP) attributeto indicate one or more camera calibration parameters associated withthe video streams; and stitching the video streams together based on theone or more camera calibration parameters to generate an immersivevideo.

Example 5 may include the method of example 4 or some other exampleherein, wherein the video streams are real-time transport protocol (RTP)streams.

Example 6 may include the method of example 4-5 or some other exampleherein, wherein the video streams are two-dimensional video streams.

Example 7 may include the method of example 4-6 or some other exampleherein, wherein the one or more camera calibration parameters includeone or more of: number of lenses, lens layouts, lens positions, lensangles, lens radius, lens resolutions, number of cameras, layout of thecameras, position of each camera (e.g., relative position represented byX,Y,Z translation from the rig center), angle and orientation of eachcamera (e.g., yaw, pitch, roll), resolution of each camera, focal length(angular pixel resolution) of each camera, principal point (center ofprojection) of each camera, lens distortion (deviation from idealperspective or fisheye) of each camera.

Example 8 may include the method of example 4-7 or some other exampleherein, wherein the immersive video is a 360 degree video.

Example 9 may include the method of example 4-8 or some other exampleherein, wherein the immersive video has a view range of 180 degrees to360 degrees.

Example 10 may include the method of example 4-9 or some other exampleherein, wherein the one or more camera calibration parameters includedifferent camera calibration parameters for different respective videostreams of the plurality of video streams.

Example 11 may include the method of example 4-10 or some other exampleherein, further comprising rendering the immersive video.

Example 12 may include the method of example 4-11 or some other exampleherein, wherein the method is performed by a teleconferencing system ora portion thereof.

Example 13 may include an apparatus comprising means to perform one ormore elements of a method described in or related to any of examples1-12, or any other method or process described herein.

Example 14 may include one or more non-transitory computer-readablemedia comprising instructions to cause an electronic device, uponexecution of the instructions by one or more processors of theelectronic device, to perform one or more elements of a method describedin or related to any of examples 1-12, or any other method or processdescribed herein.

Example 15 may include an apparatus comprising logic, modules, orcircuitry to perform one or more elements of a method described in orrelated to any of examples 1-12, or any other method or processdescribed herein.

Example 16 may include a method, technique, or process as described inor related to any of examples 1-12, or portions or parts thereof.

Example 17 may include an apparatus comprising: one or more processorsand one or more computer-readable media comprising instructions that,when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or moreprocessors to perform the method, techniques, or process as described inor related to any of examples 1-12, or portions thereof.

Example 18 may include a signal as described in or related to any ofexamples 1-12, or portions or parts thereof.

Example 19 may include a datagram, packet, frame, segment, protocol dataunit (PDU), or message as described in or related to any of examples1-12, or portions or parts thereof, or otherwise described in thepresent disclosure.

Example 20 may include a signal encoded with data as described in orrelated to any of examples 1-12, or portions or parts thereof, orotherwise described in the present disclosure.

Example 21 may include a signal encoded with a datagram, packet, frame,segment, protocol data unit (PDU), or message as described in or relatedto any of examples 1-12, or portions or parts thereof, or otherwisedescribed in the present disclosure.

Example 22 may include an electromagnetic signal carryingcomputer-readable instructions, wherein execution of thecomputer-readable instructions by one or more processors is to cause theone or more processors to perform the method, techniques, or process asdescribed in or related to any of examples 1-12, or portions thereof.

Example 23 may include a computer program comprising instructions,wherein execution of the program by a processing element is to cause theprocessing element to carry out the method, techniques, or process asdescribed in or related to any of examples 1-12, or portions thereof.

Example 24 may include a signal in a wireless network as shown anddescribed herein.

Example 25 may include a method of communicating in a wireless networkas shown and described herein.

Example 26 may include a system for providing wireless communication asshown and described herein.

Example 27 may include a device for providing wireless communication asshown and described herein.

Any of the above-described examples may be combined with any otherexample (or combination of examples), unless explicitly statedotherwise. The foregoing description of one or more implementationsprovides illustration and description, but is not intended to beexhaustive or to limit the scope of embodiments to the precise formdisclosed. Modifications and variations are possible in light of theabove teachings or may be acquired from practice of various embodiments.

Terminology

For the purposes of the present document, the following terms anddefinitions are applicable to the examples and embodiments discussedherein.

The term “circuitry” as used herein refers to, is part of, or includeshardware components such as an electronic circuit, a logic circuit, aprocessor (shared, dedicated, or group) and/or memory (shared,dedicated, or group), an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC),a field-programmable device (FPD) (e.g., a field-programmable gate array(FPGA), a programmable logic device (PLD), a complex PLD (CPLD), ahigh-capacity PLD (HCPLD), a structured ASIC, or a programmable SoC),digital signal processors (DSPs), etc., that are configured to providethe described functionality. In some embodiments, the circuitry mayexecute one or more software or firmware programs to provide at leastsome of the described functionality. The term “circuitry” may also referto a combination of one or more hardware elements (or a combination ofcircuits used in an electrical or electronic system) with the programcode used to carry out the functionality of that program code. In theseembodiments, the combination of hardware elements and program code maybe referred to as a particular type of circuitry.

The term “processor circuitry” as used herein refers to, is part of, orincludes circuitry capable of sequentially and automatically carryingout a sequence of arithmetic or logical operations, or recording,storing, and/or transferring digital data. The term “processorcircuitry” may refer to one or more application processors, one or morebaseband processors, a physical central processing unit (CPU), asingle-core processor, a dual-core processor, a triple-core processor, aquad-core processor, and/or any other device capable of executing orotherwise operating computer-executable instructions, such as programcode, software modules, and/or functional processes. The terms“application circuitry” and/or “baseband circuitry” may be consideredsynonymous to, and may be referred to as, “processor circuitry.”

The term “interface circuitry” as used herein refers to, is part of, orincludes circuitry that enables the exchange of information between twoor more components or devices. The term “interface circuitry” may referto one or more hardware interfaces, for example, buses, I/O interfaces,peripheral component interfaces, network interface cards, and/or thelike.

The term “user equipment” or “UE” as used herein refers to a device withradio communication capabilities and may describe a remote user ofnetwork resources in a communications network. The term “user equipment”or “UE” may be considered synonymous to, and may be referred to as,client, mobile, mobile device, mobile terminal, user terminal, mobileunit, mobile station, mobile user, subscriber, user, remote station,access agent, user agent, receiver, radio equipment, reconfigurableradio equipment, reconfigurable mobile device, etc. Furthermore, theterm “user equipment” or “UE” may include any type of wireless/wireddevice or any computing device including a wireless communicationsinterface.

The term “network element” as used herein refers to physical orvirtualized equipment and/or infrastructure used to provide wired orwireless communication network services. The term “network element” maybe considered synonymous to and/or referred to as a networked computer,networking hardware, network equipment, network node, router, switch,hub, bridge, radio network controller, RAN device, RAN node, gateway,server, virtualized VNF, NFVI, and/or the like.

The term “computer system” as used herein refers to any typeinterconnected electronic devices, computer devices, or componentsthereof. Additionally, the term “computer system” and/or “system” mayrefer to various components of a computer that are communicativelycoupled with one another. Furthermore, the term “computer system” and/or“system” may refer to multiple computer devices and/or multiplecomputing systems that are communicatively coupled with one another andconfigured to share computing and/or networking resources.

The term “appliance,” “computer appliance,” or the like, as used hereinrefers to a computer device or computer system with program code (e.g.,software or firmware) that is specifically designed to provide aspecific computing resource. A “virtual appliance” is a virtual machineimage to be implemented by a hypervisor-equipped device that virtualizesor emulates a computer appliance or otherwise is dedicated to provide aspecific computing resource.

The term “resource” as used herein refers to a physical or virtualdevice, a physical or virtual component within a computing environment,and/or a physical or virtual component within a particular device, suchas computer devices, mechanical devices, memory space, processor/CPUtime, processor/CPU usage, processor and accelerator loads, hardwaretime or usage, electrical power, input/output operations, ports ornetwork sockets, channel/link allocation, throughput, memory usage,storage, network, database and applications, workload units, and/or thelike. A “hardware resource” may refer to compute, storage, and/ornetwork resources provided by physical hardware element(s). A“virtualized resource” may refer to compute, storage, and/or networkresources provided by virtualization infrastructure to an application,device, system, etc. The term “network resource” or “communicationresource” may refer to resources that are accessible by computerdevices/systems via a communications network. The term “systemresources” may refer to any kind of shared entities to provide services,and may include computing and/or network resources. System resources maybe considered as a set of coherent functions, network data objects orservices, accessible through a server where such system resources resideon a single host or multiple hosts and are clearly identifiable.

The term “channel” as used herein refers to any transmission medium,either tangible or intangible, which is used to communicate data or adata stream. The term “channel” may be synonymous with and/or equivalentto “communications channel,” “data communications channel,”“transmission channel,” “data transmission channel,” “access channel,”“data access channel,” “link,” “data link,” “carrier,” “radiofrequencycarrier,” and/or any other like term denoting a pathway or mediumthrough which data is communicated. Additionally, the term “link” asused herein refers to a connection between two devices through a RAT forthe purpose of transmitting and receiving information.

The terms “instantiate,” “instantiation,” and the like as used hereinrefers to the creation of an instance. An “instance” also refers to aconcrete occurrence of an object, which may occur, for example, duringexecution of program code.

The terms “coupled,” “communicatively coupled,” along with derivativesthereof are used herein. The term “coupled” may mean two or moreelements are in direct physical or electrical contact with one another,may mean that two or more elements indirectly contact each other butstill cooperate or interact with each other, and/or may mean that one ormore other elements are coupled or connected between the elements thatare said to be coupled with each other. The term “directly coupled” maymean that two or more elements are in direct contact with one another.The term “communicatively coupled” may mean that two or more elementsmay be in contact with one another by a means of communication includingthrough a wire or other interconnect connection, through a wirelesscommunication channel or ink, and/or the like.

The term “information element” refers to a structural element containingone or more fields. The term “field” refers to individual contents of aninformation element, or a data element that contains content.

The term “SMTC” refers to an SSB-based measurement timing configurationconfigured by SSB-MeasurementTimingConfiguration.

The term “SSB” refers to an SS/PBCH block.

The term “a “Primary Cell” refers to the MCG cell, operating on theprimary frequency, in which the UE either performs the initialconnection establishment procedure or initiates the connectionre-establishment procedure.

The term “Primary SCG Cell” refers to the SCG cell in which the UEperforms random access when performing the Reconfiguration with Syncprocedure for DC operation.

The term “Secondary Cell” refers to a cell providing additional radioresources on top of a Special Cell for a UE configured with CA.

The term “Secondary Cell Group” refers to the subset of serving cellscomprising the PSCell and zero or more secondary cells for a UEconfigured with DC.

The term “Serving Cell” refers to the primary cell for a UE inRRC_CONNECTED not configured with CA/DC there is only one serving cellcomprising of the primary cell.

The term “serving cell” or “serving cells” refers to the set of cellscomprising the Special Cell(s) and all secondary cells for a UE inRRC_CONNECTED configured with CA/.

The term “Special Cell” refers to the PCell of the MCG or the PSCell ofthe SCG for DC operation; otherwise, the term “Special Cell” refers tothe Pcell.

1. One or more non-transitory computer-readable media (NTCRM) havinginstructions, stored thereon, that when executed by one or moreprocessors, cause a device to: receive a plurality of video streams;receive a session description protocol (SDP) attribute to indicate oneor more camera calibration parameters associated with the video streams;and stitch the video streams together based on the one or more cameracalibration parameters to generate an immersive video.
 2. The one ormore NTCRM of claim 1, wherein the video streams are real-time transportprotocol (RTP) streams.
 3. The one or more NTCRM of claim 1, wherein thevideo streams are two-dimensional video streams.
 4. The one or moreNTCRM of claim 1, wherein the one or more camera calibration parametersinclude one or more of: a number of lenses, a lens layout, a lensposition, a lens angle, a lens radius, a lens resolution, a number ofcameras, a layout of the cameras, a position of each camera, an angle ofeach camera, an orientation of each camera, a resolution of each camera,a focal length of each camera, a principal point of each camera, or alens distortion of each camera.
 5. The one or more NTCRM of claim 1,wherein the immersive video is a 360-degree video.
 6. The one or moreNTCRM of claim 1, wherein the immersive video has a view range of 180degrees to 360 degrees.
 7. The one or more NTCRM of claim 1, wherein theone or more camera calibration parameters include different cameracalibration parameters for different respective video streams of theplurality of video streams.
 8. The one or more NTCRM of claim 1, whereinthe instructions, when executed, are further to cause the device torender the immersive video.
 9. The one or more NTCRM of claim 1, whereinthe device is a teleconferencing device.